The Supreme Court today heard NDTV’s appeal against the one-day ban imposed on it by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting..A Bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan adjourned the matter for Friday, after a cursory hearing..When the matter was called today, signs of an impasse were clearly visible..Senior Advocate Harish Salve, who appeared for NDTV, read before the Court a letter containing a general statement of regret for what they dubbed as “the unfortunate incident”..Salve noted,.“NDTV is a very responsible media organization. We regret the unfortunate incident which occurred.”.Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the IB Ministry, did not seem to agree to the contents of the said letter, observing that the statement seemed too generic in nature..He also suggested that the statement should be tweaked to reflect the fact that it was in the nature of an apology, but also added,.“We are not asking you to say that you have reported wrongly…We can’t ask that.”.Salve then suggested whether it would be better if he used the phrase “we regret the controversy that led to the incident”, but it was met with a tepid response by the AG..The matter is now posted for Friday, which is when NDTV will be confirming whether or not the channel agrees to the suggested modifications..The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had imposed the ban on NDTV for violating the said provision for its reportage on the terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase. Senior Advocate Fali Nariman had appeared for the news channel last year.
The Supreme Court today heard NDTV’s appeal against the one-day ban imposed on it by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting..A Bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan adjourned the matter for Friday, after a cursory hearing..When the matter was called today, signs of an impasse were clearly visible..Senior Advocate Harish Salve, who appeared for NDTV, read before the Court a letter containing a general statement of regret for what they dubbed as “the unfortunate incident”..Salve noted,.“NDTV is a very responsible media organization. We regret the unfortunate incident which occurred.”.Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the IB Ministry, did not seem to agree to the contents of the said letter, observing that the statement seemed too generic in nature..He also suggested that the statement should be tweaked to reflect the fact that it was in the nature of an apology, but also added,.“We are not asking you to say that you have reported wrongly…We can’t ask that.”.Salve then suggested whether it would be better if he used the phrase “we regret the controversy that led to the incident”, but it was met with a tepid response by the AG..The matter is now posted for Friday, which is when NDTV will be confirming whether or not the channel agrees to the suggested modifications..The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had imposed the ban on NDTV for violating the said provision for its reportage on the terrorist attack on the Pathankot airbase. Senior Advocate Fali Nariman had appeared for the news channel last year.
