New Delhi:
Strongly opposing media coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput case, the Press Council of India said on Friday that the media must adhere to standards of journalistic conduct when covering cases under investigation and being recommends not running your own “parallel”. judgment”.
The media should not tell the story in a way that would lead the public to believe in the complicity of the accused person, the Press Council of India (PCI) said in its notice.
The PCI said it has observed with “anguish that many media coverage of the alleged suicide of a film actor violates norms of journalistic conduct” and therefore advises the media to adhere to the norms framed by it.
Stating that it is not desirable to publish information based on gossip about the line of investigation of official agencies on the crime committed, the PCI said that it is not advisable to report crime-related matters “on a day-to-day basis and comment on the evidence without determining the factual matrix “.
Such information creates undue pressure in the course of a fair investigation and trial, he said.
“The media are advised to refrain from giving excessive publicity to the victim, witnesses, suspects and accused, as it will amount to an invasion of their privacy rights,” said the PCI.
Identification of witnesses by the media should be avoided as it puts them at risk of pressure from defendants or associates, as well as investigative agencies, he said.
The PCI stated that the media are advised not to “carry out their own parallel trial or issue the decision to avoid pressure during the investigation and trial.” Reporting of the case by some newspapers also violates the norms formulated by the council for reporting on suicide, he said.
The media is not expected to use language that sensationalizes or normalizes suicides or presents it as a constructive solution to problems, he said.
Last week, the Supreme Court upheld the transfer of an FIR, filed by Sushant Singh Rajput’s father in Patna against actor Rhea Chakraborty and others for allegedly leading his son to suicide and financially misleading him, to the CBI.
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