India’s top court has agreed to hear pleas challenging a government ban on a BBC documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The ban has renewed debate about freedom of expression in the world’s largest democracy.
The Supreme Court received at least two petitions on Monday, filed by activists, politicians and lawyers contesting the federal government’s ban on the two-part documentary titled India: The Modi Question.
Chief Justice Dhananjaya Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala agreed to schedule the case for February 6.
The documentary examines Mr Modi’s political journey over the past two decades and the rise of Hindu nationalism, particularly his role as chief minister of Gujarat when deadly sectarian riots rocked the western state in 2002. About 1,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims.
The second part of the documentary, released last week, focuses on government policies since Mr Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, after a landslide election win by his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
These include bans on the slaughter of cows and eating of beef in several states ruled by the BJP, the prohibition of interfaith marriages and a controversial citizenship law that critics believe is aimed at Muslims.
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