The Kerala High Court today extended its block on the Indian government’s recent decision to cancel the license of news channel MediaOne. The IPI global network welcomes the court’s ruling and urges the government to drop its effort to shut down MediaOne over vague “national security” concerns.

On January 31, India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting shut down Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV, citing “national security reasons”. The channel was unable to broadcast for a few hours until the Kerala High Court issued a two-day stay, thereupon resuming its telecast. On February 2, the court issued an extension of the stay, allowing operations to continue until February 7.

All broadcasters in India need to obtain a government security clearance to receive a broadcasting license. MediaOne has had one since 2011 and recently submitted a renewal permission. The security clearance lasts for 10 years. On January 5, the Ministry of Home Affairs, which approves the permission, issued a show-cause order to MediaOne, asking why its permission should be granted and not revoked.

MediaOne said it does not know the grounds for why the permission would be revoked, noting that the order just states that the security clearance is based on “parameters” set by the Ministry of Home Affairs. There are no other grounds outlined.

“A government should not be able to arbitrarily cite ‘national security’ as grounds to withdraw a media outlet’s license”, IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen said. “The closure of a television broadcaster amounts to a serious infringement on the public’s right to information and must therefore be subject to very strict procedural rules and guarantees that respect freedom of expression. The decision to cancel MediaOne’s license without a proper justification sets a dangerous precedent and should be swiftly reversed.”

The assistant solicitor general of India, appearing before the High Court on February 2, referred to a 2019 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the cancellation of licenses if a news channel did not have a security clearance. It ruled that the party was not entitled to prior notice of a shutdown.

But in 2021 the Supreme Court also said that the state cannot get “a free pass every time the spectra of national security is raised”, in a case concerning India’s use of the Pegasus app. “National security is not a bugbar that the judicary shies away from, by virtue of its mere mention”, the Court said. In that case, the Court ordered the creation of an independent committee to investigate whether the government used the surveillance app.

The Kerala High Court has directed the government to produce the relevant files by February 7, showing how the cancellation of MediaOne’s license relates to national security concerns. The government said it cannot reveal the information to the public but could produce it in a sealed cover.

This is not the first time Mediaone has been targeted by the government. It was briefly suspended in 2020 for its reporting on the Delhi pogrom, according to the channel. The government called the channel’s reporting “biased” at the time.