The Delhi High Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a plea that sought to place before it a copy of the controversial BBC documentary, “India’s Daughter”.
The matter has now been listed for hearing on Wednesday before the Chief Justice’s Bench in which the original petition seeking to lift the ban had been placed.
The matter had come before the Division Bench of Justices B.D. Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva in the absence of the Chief Justice’s court wherein it had refused to pass any order. The court had said that although it had prima facie no objection to the documentary itself, the Chief Justice would be better placed to decide whether the ban should be lifted or not. It had also said that media trials tend to influence judgements and had refused to pass any order pending a proper outcome of the convict’s trial in the Supreme Court. “Had it been originally placed before us, we would have asked you to place material before us on why the ban be lifted. But it has come here from the roster Bench of Chief Justice, so we will not pass any interim orders. Let the roster Bench decide it,” the court said. The petitioners in the case also said that such a ban might result in more gags and that the video had anyway spread through Internet with no law and order situation arising; so they could not see a point to its ban.
The government’s lawyers had claimed that permitting the video would mean, giving the convict a platform to air his views, which were only derogatory statements against the victim. On Tuesday, the court said that an application to place the CDs of the documentary could be made before the Chief Justice’s Bench when it hears the case on Wednesday.
