MediaOne Ban: Oppn MPs protest in Parliament, demand reasons for ban

New Delhi: Opposition MPs in Parliament rose in strong protest at the ban on broadcast of MediaOne after Congress' Rajya Sabha MP KC Venugopal brought the matter to the attention of the government.

Venugopal demanded the government assert the exact reason behind banning the channel, while opposition MPs, not only from Kerala but also other states, collectively backed his demand.

The senior Congress leader said that the government should not suppress freedom of the press by merely invoking national security.

At the end, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Dr L Murugan answered that the government could not respond to the issues since the case of MediaOne is under the consideration of the court. Since the matter is regarding national security, the channel requires Home Ministry's permission, Murugan informed parliament.

He further said that the government had banned some 60 channels/handles on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook due to security reasons. Referring to the Emergency, the minister said that it was not 1975.

On Wednesday, Kerala High Court asked the Centre to explain the security reasons cited by the government which led to the union home ministry's non-renewal of the channel's licence. On the Centre insisting that the matter could not be revealed in public, the court remarked that the submission made by the government was not enough and asked it to produce the documents that were behind the decision. The Centre's counsel asked for time till Monday to furnish the same in a sealed cover by Monday, which the bench granted.