Court seeks Balkaur's reply to BBC's objections by July 1
BATHINDA, June 24 -- Slain Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala's father, Balkaur Singh, on Monday failed to file a reply to the objections raised against a civil writ he filed regarding the BBC documentary "The Killing Call", based on the singer's life and murder.
During the hearing, duty magistrate Ankit Airi, additional civil judge, granted Balkaur time and directed him to submit his reply at the next hearing scheduled for July 1.
Satinder Pal Singh, counsel for Balkaur, said that no other directive was issued by the court during Monday's proceedings and no arguments were heard. "The court admitted our submission to file a reply next week," said Singh.
Balkaur Singh had filed the suit on June 10 against the BBC, investigative journalist Ishleen Kaur and programme producer Ankur Jain. The suit challenges BBC's screening and release of the documentary.
BBC lawyer Balwant Bhatia said on Monday that in the last hearing on June 16, it was objected that the civil writ was filed against the Delhi-based BBC, which is a subsidiary of the UK-based broadcasting organisation, whereas the Indian team of the BBC had no role in the making of the documentary.
"The UK-based BBC World Service made the documentary, but the BBC in India was made a party in the petition. The Indian arm of the BBC was not involved in its creation, they only had a role in planning a screening. The documentary was released by the BBC World Service on YouTube and it has already been watched worldwide on social media," said Bhatia.
Additionally, Bhatia argued that the petition was beyond the jurisdiction of the Mansa court....
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