The Supreme Court while hearing a case on the Tablighi Jamaat on Thursday stated that the freedom of speech and expression is the “most abused right” in recent times.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde, while hearing the case seeking action against television channels for allegedly disseminating fake news about the Tablighi Jamaat and communalising the Nizamuddin markaz incident, pulled up the Centre for its “evasive” and “brazen” affidavit on the issue.
The bench observed this when senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the Tablighi Jamaat, said the Centre in its affidavit has stated that petitioners are trying to muzzle freedom of speech and expression.
To this, the bench said, they are free to make any averment in their affidavit, like you are free to make any argument you want.
The bench also took strong exception to the affidavit filed by the central government in response to the petition and stated that it has been filed by a junior officer and also does not address any specific instances of bad reporting raised by the petitioner.
“You cannot treat this court this way. The affidavit is filed by a junior officer. It is also extremely evasive and does not respond to the incidents of bad reporting,” CJI Bobde told solicitor general Tushar Mehta.
The apex court sought an affidavit from the I&B secretary with details of steps taken in the past to stop motivated media reporting in such cases.