Plea in Telangana HC against ban on media coverage of Secretariat's demolition
Jul 25, 2020
Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], July 25 : A petition has been filed in the Telangana High Court by VIL Media, a private company, seeking a direction to permit the media to report and telecast the ongoing demolition of the secretariat at Saidabad here, as the media persons are restrained from covering the secretariat building.
Sampath, counsel for the petitioner, told ANI, "We have filed a petition for the unreasonable restrictions imposed by Telangana government on the press. The demolition activity started from July 15 onwards. The government is not at all allowing the press irrespective of channels print or electronic media."
"Demolition of the secretariat is a public affair and everything happens in the public domain. People have the right to know everything. Right to inform and right to be informed are important in a democracy. The state government has curtailed these two basic rights with an executive order. These rights are guaranteed under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India," he said.
Sampath said that the health of democracy can be measured in terms of what extent the press is enjoying freedom. "This kind of situation in Telangana happened for the first time and that is why we have approached the High Court," he added.
