NEW DELHI: Government action on the Hindi news channel has received criticism from various quarters. While editors guild condemned the government’s decision, political parties also criticised and expressed surprise on the ban.
Strongly condemning the decision, the Editors guild of India termed it a "direct violation" of the freedom of the press. The editor's body demanded that the order be "immediately rescinded".
"The Editors Guild of India strongly condemns the unprecedented decision of the inter-ministerial committee of the Union ministry of information and broadcasting to take NDTV India off the air for a day and demands that the order be immediately rescinded," the Guild said in a statement.
"Imposing a ban without resorting to judicial intervention or oversight violates the fundamental principles of freedom and justice. The Editors Guild of India calls for an immediate withdrawal of the ban order," it added.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said he hoped the "whole media" will go off air for a day to express solidarity with the Hindi news channel NDTV India. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the ban on NDTV India was "shocking" and shows an "Emergency-like attitude". Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Detaining opposition leaders, blacking out tv channels- all in a day's work in Modiji's India. NDTV banned -shocking & unprecedented.”
The inter-ministerial panel constituted by the I and B ministry had concluded that the channel 'NDTV India' had revealed crucial and "strategically sensitive" information when the terror attack on Pathankot IAF base was being carried out in January, according to official sources.
The I and B ministry while invoking the powers under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act said it "orders to prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of NDTV India channel for one day on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hrs on 9th November,2016 till 00:01 hrs of 10th November, 2016".
NDTV in its response to a show cause by the government has maintained that its coverage was "sober" and did not carry any information that had not been covered by the rest of the media, and was in the public domain, it said.
