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Jamait ulama-i-Hind, is an organization of Muslim scholars who moved the Supreme Court with regard to the issue of demonization and unwarranted attacks on the Muslim community after the Nizamuddin Markaz event that took place where about 2500 people had gathered amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
A plea was filed by Advocate Ejaz Maqbool that the "communal headlines” and “bigoted remarks” with regard to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic by different sections of the media, including the print, social and electronic media have “demonized the entire Muslim community.” It was also contested that such demonization of a particular community is “an infringement of the right to live with dignity, which is an essential aspect under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution”. It was also brought to the notice that many facts were fabricated using the phrases like “Corona Jihad”, “Corona Terrorism” or “Islamic Resurrection”
The Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, Justice A.S. Bopanna & Hrishikesh Roy, on 27th May 2020, together took up the petitions that addressed a common prayer. This matter initially came up before the Supreme Court around 7 weeks back and at that juncture, the Supreme Court had adjourned it and opined that it would be better if the Press Council of India (PCI) was also a party.
Appearing for Jamait-ulama-i-Hind, Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave argued that the media coverage of the Nizamuddin Markaz event contained objectionable content and he also pointed out that “fake news damages the secular fabric of the nation”, pointing out that the earliest reports on the matter date back to 1-10 April still no action is taken and thus urged the Supreme Court for immediate action on the issue.
The Supreme Court has thus, observed, whilst cautioning the Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre that, “Don’t let people instigate law and order issues. These are the things that later become law and order issues.”
In addition to this, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre as well as the Press Council of India (PCI) to frame a reply with regard to the fallacy in not taking action against the media channels who erred under the Sections 19 and 20 of the Cable Television Networks Act, 1995. The Supreme Court directed to implead the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) as a party to the case and has given two weeks' time to Mr K.M. Nataraj, Additional Solicitor General appearing for the Central Government to reply.
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