Zee Tamil 

Tamil Nadu 

HRDA has issued an urgent appeal to the National Human Rights Commission of India on January 21, 2022 regarding Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s Notice to Zee Tamil for satire on Prime Minister. 

On January 15, 2022, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) issued a notice to media company Zee Entertainment Enterprises after the Tamil Nadu unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) filed a complaint against Zee Tamil alleging that “obnoxious comments” had been made about Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi in a reality show. The notice was issued after Mr. Nirmal Kumar, chief of BJP’s information technology and social media cell in Tamil Nadu, filed a complaint against telecast of reality “Junior Super Star Season 4” that was aired on Zee Tamil on January 15, 2022.

In its notice to the Zee Tamil television channel, the MIB said that it had received a complaint about the telecast and asked Zee Tamil “to provide comments on the complaint to this Ministry within a period of 7 days, failing which further action will be taken”. 

This case is an example of the right to dissent and free speech being increasingly criminalized in India. This is a violation of Article 19(a) of the Indian Constitution which provides for free speech and power to express oneself to every citizen.