"Plain case of political vendetta": Supreme Court on Centre's action against Power TV

The Supreme Court on Friday granted interim relief to Kannada news channel Power TV and its affiliate Mitcoin Infrastructure by vacating an interim stay on the TV channel's broadcasts. .Power TV is a Kannada news channel that had been at the forefront of reporting sexual abuse allegations against suspended Janata Dal (Secular) [JD (s)] leader Prajwal Revanna and his brother, Suraj Revanna.The Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra opined that actions taken against the channel seemed to be linked to political vendetta. "We are inclined to protect freedom of speech and expression. The more we hear this it looks like a plain case of political vendetta and this court will be failing in its duty if it is not protected," the CJI said. The top court, therefore, stayed the High Court's interim order to halt all broadcasts till Monday (July 15) while issuing notice on Power TV's appeal. .The news channel was recently ordered to halt all broadcasts by the Karnataka High Court amid allegations that it did not hold an active licence to broadcast content.The order followed a show-cause notice issued by the Central government in February this year. Meanwhile, Power TV said that it recently found that it was singled out in such treatment.Power TV has argued that it is being targeted for running a broadcast on April 25 this year which exposed the Prajwal Revanna sex scandal. In this regard, it has submitted that its CEO, Rakesh Shetty, received a call on April 25 from Prajwal Revanna's father, HD Revanna, who assured that all issues being faced by the channel would be resolved if it takes down its broadcast on the allegations against Prajwal Revanna. It added that an officer attached to Union Cabinet Minister Prahlad Joshi called Rakesh Shetty on April 27, threatening that the TV channel would face serious problems if it did not take down its broadcast on Prajwal Revanna. On June 21, Power TV reported on allegations of sexual abuse against Prajwal's brother, Suraj Revanna, as well. On June 25, a single judge of the Karnataka High Court passed an interim order staying all broadcast by Power TV on a finding that neither its owner nor its operator appeared to have a valid licence.Power TV has now argued that during the June 25 hearing, the Central government inexplicably pressed for the halt of broadcasts, even though the petitions were filed by a senior IPS officer and a JD (S) leader who claimed they were defamed.On July 3, a Division Bench of the High Court declined to lift the stay order but asked the Central government to decide within six weeks on the license dispute.Power TV has raised apprehensions that this would end up being an empty formality before its licence is formally rejected. Therefore, the channel has challenged the High Court's July 3 order before the Supreme Court by way of an appeal. It has also sought to bring on record certain letters issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting with respect to TV channels run by Sahara and by New Delhi Televisions Limited (NDTV), to support its allegation of being singled out. Power TV has pointed out that these channels were granted a renewal of licence in August 2023, retrospectively and for ten years. Notably, in the intervening period (between application and grant of renewal), these TV channels were permitted to continue operations and their broadcast was never prohibited, Power TV pointed out..Having heard brief submissions today, the Supreme Court proceeded to grant interim relief to Power TV. "The interim order has to be vacated. Issue notice, stay on High Court judgment," the top court ordered. Power TV was represented by Senior Advocates Ranjit Kumar, Sunil Fernandes and advocates Mithu Jain and Sanchit Garga.