The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the response of the Centre on a plea seeking a direction to restrain media houses from using the word ‘Dalit’ in news articles, alleging it creates “inequality” in society.
A bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal issued a notice to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and asked it to take instruction on whether there is any law to prohibit the use of the word by media houses.
‘Restrain the media’
The court has fixed January 13, 2017, for further hearing of the plea by Prem Kumar Singh, who has also sought a direction to the Press Council of India to restrain all print and electronic media from using the word ‘Dalit’.
Meanwhile, the counsel for the government told the bench that as of now there was no circular regarding such usage by the publishers.
Referring to some news headlines, which had used the word ‘Dalit’, the petitioner said: “The legislature has made provisions to ensure no one may create any kind of hatred or animosity between the different communities or religions in India”.
Aggrieved by the excessive use of the words ‘Dalit’ and ’upper caste’, the plea alleged that despite a law and guidelines in place, the media houses keep on raising the issue of ‘Dalit’ atrocities unnecessarily.
‘Impose penalty’
“Crime is crime and can be committed against or by any community and thus cannot be treated on a different footing compared to crime committed by or against the people of the general community, especially when people from the Scheduled Caste are involved,” the plea said.
It said that “this kind of differentiation was an arbitrary act and against basic concept of equality enshrined in the Constitution of India”.
The petitioner urged the court to direct the Ministry and the press watchdog to take appropriate steps to ensure that the word may not be used unnecessarily and unjustifiably.
It said compliance with laws related to prohibition of use of community related words be ensured by the authorities concerned.
The plea added that a penalty may be imposed on publishers for their act of creating an atmosphere in the country by presenting the news in a provocative and distorted manner. — PTI
Plea says ‘arbitrary use’ of the word goes against basic concept of equality in the Constitution
