NDTV Gets Govt Notice for Airing Yakub Memon Lawyer’s Views

NDTV gets notice from the government for airing Yakub Memon lawyer’s views.

(Photo: This image has been altered by The Quint)

The NDA government’s Information & Broadcasting Ministry has issued a show-cause notice to English news channel NDTV and Hindi news channels Aaj Tak and ABP News for specific content relating to Yakub Memon’s execution.

The Indian Express, which published the story first, reports,

The content includes phone-in interviews of Chhota Shakeel on Aaj Tak and ABP News in which he claimed Yakub Memon was innocent and said that four mercy petitions were dismissed in a single day. He also alleged that justice had not been done and that he did not believe the court. NDTV 24×7 had aired an interview of Yakub Memon’s lawyer who spoke about how many countries have done away with the death penalty.

NDTV Group CEO Vikram Chandra spoke with The Quint confirming the show cause notice.

We are studying the notice and preparing a response.
— Vikram Chandra, CEO, NDTV

Based on reports and sources familiar with the notice contents, what stands out is that NDTV would be show-caused for carrying a lawyer’s reaction to a verdict by the Supreme Court concerning his client.

The Indian Express report mentions that the show-cause notices issued to the three channels cites violation of Cable Television Network Rules, 1994.

• Section 1(d), no programme which contains any “obscene, defamatory, deliberate, false and suggestive innuendos and half-truths” should find itself on air.
• Section 1(e) mentions that cable channels should not air anything which is “likely to encourage or incite violence or contains anything against maintenance of law and order or which promote anti-national attitudes.”
• Section 1(g), channels cannot air content which “contains aspersions against the integrity of the President and Judiciary”.

Apar Gupta, a Delhi-based advocate threw some more light on the nature of such notices.