Supreme Court Seeks Centre’s Reply On Blocking 4PM YouTube Channel

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and others on a petition seeking quashing of an order blocking popular YouTube channel “4PM”.

The plea has claimed that the channel was blocked by the intermediary after an undisclosed direction allegedly issued by the Centre on vague grounds of "national security" and "public order".

A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and K.V. Viswanathan agreed to hear the plea and issued notices to the Centre and others seeking their responses on the petition.

The plea, filed by Sanjay Sharma who is the Editor of digital news platform “4PM” which has a subscriber base of 73 lakh, has alleged that the blocking was a "chilling assault on journalistic independence" and the right of the public to receive information.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioner, told the bench that no notice was issued to the petitioner before the blocking order was passed.

"The whole channel is blocked for no reason…the only information I have is from the intermediary," Sibal said, adding, "Ex-facie it is unconstitutional."

The bench, while issuing notice on the plea, said the matter would be heard next week.

The plea, filed through advocate Talha Abdul Rahman, said no blocking order or underlying complaint was furnished to the petitioner, violating both statutory and constitutional safeguards.

The petition said it was a settled law that the Constitution does not permit blanket removal of content without an opportunity to be heard.

"National security” and “public order' are not talismanic invocations to insulate executive action from scrutiny, it said, adding, the action was not only ultra vires of the parent statute but also strikes at the core of democratic accountability ensured by a free press.