The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed the appeal of Malayalam news channel MediaOne’s against a single judge order upholding the Union government’s decision to stop its telecast by not renewing its licence.
A bench comprising of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly also rejected the appeals by some of the channel’s employees, including its Editor, as well as the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ), whose plea against the Centre’s decision were also rejected by the single judge on February 8.
The denial of security clearance to the channel by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) was “justified” based on the inputs received from intelligence agencies, the single judge had said.
The Centre had banned telecast of Media One on January 31.
The judge had also said that according to the downlinking guidelines, security clearance was mandatory even at the time of considering renewal of permission.
This was not the first time that Media One has faced such a bar on its operation.
In 2020, MediaOne, along with another Malayalam News channel, Asianet, was briefly suspended for 48 hours over their coverage of Delhi communal riots, with the official orders saying they covered the violence in a manner that “highlighted the attack on places of worship and siding towards a particular community”.
(With inputs)
