The Kerala High Court on Monday stayed a central government order banning the telecast of Malayalam news channel MediaOne, for two days and sought a clarification from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
The channel, which has the backing of Jamaat-e-Islami, had moved the high court after the ministry suspended its telecast citing "security reasons".
In a statement Pramod Raman, the Editor of MediaOne, claimed that the government had not been forthcoming with details of the reasons for the ban.
"The telecast of MediaOne channel has once again been disallowed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, citing security reasons. The government has not been forthcoming with the details," he said.
The Quint reported that action from the I&B ministry came after the ministry of home affairs denied security clearance for the channel. A circular of the I&B ministry said MediaOne had been issued a show-cause notice and the channel had replied to it.
The government's move has drawn flak from various quarters with the opposition Congress terming it as “undemocratic”.
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Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly, V.D. Satheesan said the I&B ministry banned the telecast of the channel without citing any reason.
"The banning of telecast of MediaOne channel without citing any reason was undemocratic. This is against natural justice. The Union government has a responsibility to cite the reason behind the ban. The government is trying to implement the agenda of Sangh Parivar which has been intolerant against unpleasant truths," he said.
Lok Sabha MP from Kerala E.T. Muhammed Basheer criticised the ban on MediaOne. He tweeted, “Centre's ban on MediaOne TV is highly reprehensible. This is the second time that the Central Government has imposed a ban on MediaOne TV. Yet another attempt to silence the political dissent through outright fascism. All people of India should unite against this tyranny.”
In March 2020, the Centre had briefly banned MediaOne and Asianet News, another Malayalam TV channel, for their coverage of the Delhi riots. At the time, MediaOne was accused of being critical towards Delhi Police and the RSS.
