‘Disclose if due process followed in filing plaint against channels’

CIC take on airing ‘doctored’ videos of JNU protest 

New Delhi: The Central Information Commission has directed the Delhi government to disclose if the due process was followed in filing complaints against three news channels for allegedly airing "doctored" videos of JNU protests in February 2016. 

Information Commissioner Yashovardhan Azad was hearing the plea of an editor of one of the channels which had sought to know the process of filing a criminal complaint on behalf of the government, the process of filing complaint, the authority in the Delhi government granting permission to file complaint along with file notings. 

The application was transferred within the offices of the Delhi government, but no satisfactory response was given. 

Azad noted the editor has an equitable right to know as to the basis of what incriminating material, fact-finding enquiry and under whose directions, the SDM approached the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate against him and other similarly situated journalists. 

"If, as per the respondents, the appellant and others were not doing fair reporting of news, the respondents ought to have readily shared the information. 

Stonewalling the information sought does not further the cause of transparency," he said. 

The present instance of denial of information has a direct bearing on the moral of the fourth pillar of democracy, Azad pointed out, adding delay or denial in such cases invokes suspicion.  

Directing he SDM, Vasant Vihar to provide information, Azad issued a show cause notice as to why penalty should not be imposed on the official for not furnishing the information within 30 days. 

The case pertains to the broadcast by three new channels of alleged "doctored" videos of students' protests on the campus of prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University on February 9, 2016. 

The protests were allegedly against the capital punishment meted out to the 2001 Indian Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. The broadcast resulted in outrage among large section of society which prompted the arrest of some students of the university. 

"...a controversy as regards the authenticity of the video footage showing certain persons shouting anti-national slogans soon erupted," Azad noted. 

In April 2016, the Delhi government took cognizance of the controversy involved and approached the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, New Delhi seeking criminal action against the three news channels alleged to have broadcasted a "doctored" video of the JNU protest, he said. 

On the basis of the plea, a criminal complaint was filed against the three channels on allegations knowingly and with malicious intent causing damage to JNU students and the university.