NEW DELHI: The
Supreme Court
on Friday stayed the
Karnataka high court
order of restraining
broadcasting
of stop broadcasting of news channel ‘
Power TV
‘ on grounds of lack of proper
license
. The TV channel had made elaborate telecast of
sex scandal allegations
against JD(S) leaders Prajwal and Suraj Revanna.
The Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud while hearing the matter said that, “the more we hear you the more we are convinced this is political vendetta.”
“The idea was to completely blank out his voice, the state is duty bound to protect his freedom of speech and expression,” CJI added.
Earlier, the Karnataka high court has restrained Power TV from carrying on broadcasting activities until the next hearing on July 9. Justice SR Krishna Kumar passed the interim order after hearing a petition filed by IPS officer BR Ravikanthe Gowda and ex-MLC Ramesh Gowda wherein they claimed that the channel has been carrying out broadcasting activities unauthorisedly since 2021.
Both petitioners are said to be victims of certain programmes broadcast by the channel, tarnishing their reputation. Earlier, the Union government informed the court that proceedings have already been initiated against Power Smart Media Limited (the company running the channel), which is not permitted to uplink and downlink programmes.
Justice Krishna Kumar said documents revealed that no approval or renewal had been granted to the said channel. The channel’s permission ended on Oct 12, 2021 and it submitted an application seeking renewal on Dec 30, 2022. “It would be just and appropriate to direct the respondents … not to continue with any broadcast … till the next date of hearing,” the judge said.
