65th National Film Awards:Few awardees to boycott
New Delhi, April 3:At the dress rehearsal of the prestigious National Film Awards, a number of awardees expressed disappointment after they were informed that the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind would attend the prize distribution ceremony for only an hour which is scheduled to be held today evening at the Vigyan Bhavan. President Kovind will only hand out 11 awards within the that one hour.
This has upset the remaining awardees who are now contemplating the idea of skipping the ceremony altogether in lieu of the recent developments. The winners protested this development by highlighting the fact that last year, former President Pranab Mukherjee presented all the National Film Awards personally.
“In all the award ceremonies he has attended, he gives away major awards, and takes photographs with all awardees. That has been the standard practice, which has been conveyed to the organisers well in advance,” press secretary to the President,said Ashok Malik.
If sources are to be believed, a number of awardees led by a filmmaker refused to attend the 65th National Film Awards after being informed about the President Kovind’s schedule and plans. The Information and Broadcasting Minister, Smriti Irani had to personally pacify them.
“It was extremely disrespectful on the part of the organisers to treat the awardees this way. We were informed that we would receive the awards from the President himself, and we have brought our family members with us for the ceremony. But it was only this evening that we were told that only 11 awardees will receive them directly from the President,”
While there has been no confirmation if the group will attend the ceremony, however, they have expressed that their disappointment is not against the organisers but the President. As a result, they are not refusing the award, they just won’t attend the event and receive it.
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Bombay High Court strikes down Centre's plan to set up Fact-Check Unit
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has struck down the central government's plan to establish a fact-checking unit (FCU) under the Information Technology Amendment Rules, 2023. The decision comes in response to a petition filed by standup comedian Kunal Kamra, challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre's move.
Justice A.S. Chandurkar, delivering the final verdict, declared that the proposed IT Amendment Rules violated key provisions of the Indian Constitution, namely Articles 14 (right to equality), 19 (freedom of speech and expression), and 19(1)(g) (right to profession).
“I have considered the matter extensively. The impugned rules are violative of Articles 14, 19, and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India,” Justice Chandurkar said in his judgment. He further remarked that terms like "fake, false, and misleading" in the IT Rules were "vague" and lacked a clear definition, making them unconstitutional.
This judgment followed a split verdict issued by a division bench of the Bombay High Court in January. The bench, consisting of Justices Gautam Patel and Neela Gokhale, was divided in their opinions. While Justice Patel ruled that the IT Rules amounted to censorship and struck them down, Justice Gokhale upheld the rules, arguing that they did not pose a "chilling effect" on free speech, as the petitioners had claimed.
The matter was then referred to a third judge, leading to today's decision. The Supreme Court had previously stayed the Centre's notification that would have made the fact-checking unit operational, stating that the government could not proceed until the Bombay High Court ruled on the case.
Kunal Kamra and other petitioners had argued that the amendments posed unreasonable restrictions on freedom of speech and expression. They contended that the provisions would lead to government-led censorship, effectively granting the government unchecked powers to determine what constitutes 'truth' online. The petitioners further claimed that such powers would turn the government into "prosecutor, judge, and executioner" in matters of online content.
With the Bombay High Court’s ruling, the Centre's move to create fact-checking units has been effectively halted, reaffirming the importance of protecting freedom of speech and expression in the digital space.
