Supreme Court affirms press freedom; lifts ban on news channel

The Supreme Court on Wednesday underscored the significance of freedom of press and made it clear that the state cannot deny the rights of the citizens by merely raising the plea of national security without material facts backing it.

The observations came from a division bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli while setting aside the Centre's refusal to renew the broadcasting license of Malayalam news channel MediaOne. The SC criticised the sealed cover procedure used by the Ministry of Home Affairs in this case and its reliance by Kerala High Court.

"The high court did not disclose the reasons for the denial of security clearance. There is no explanation of what weighed in the mind of the high court leading it to hold that the denial of clearance was justified despite observing that the nature and gravity of the issue is not discernible from the files. The sealed cover procedure, followed by the single judge and the division belch, have necessarily rendered the appellant's (channel) right to remedies, which has been described as the heart and soul of the Constitution and a basic feature of the Constitution, a dry parchment", the top bench observed.


The bench deplored "the cavalier manner" in which the Centre raised the claim of national security. "Other than merely claiming that national security is involved, both in the affidavit that was filed before the high court and in the submissions before us, the Union of India made no attempt to explain how non-disclosure would be in the interest of national security. The Union of India has adopted this approach in spite of reiterations by this court. That judicial review would not be excluded in a mere mention of the phrase national security. The state is using national security as a tool to deny citizens remedies that are provided under the law. This is not compatible with the rule of law", the judgment read.