New Delhi: Eight former IPS officers, including former General Directors of Police (DGP), have mobilized the Bombay High Court against the “unfair, malicious and false media campaign” against the Mumbai police in the death of Sushant Singh Rajput.
The “media trial” must be stopped, the statement urged the court.
The petitioners are former Maharashtra DGP MN Singh, PS Pasricha, DK Sivanandan, Sanjiv Dayal, Satish Mathur and K. Subramanyam, former Mumbai Police Commissioner DN Jadhav, and former additional DGP KP Raghuvanshi.
The petition, filed on August 31, says that a news channel section has been trying to influence the course of the investigation, which is being carried out by CBI, ED and NCB, and broadcasting “false propaganda” against the Mumbai police. “This has created an air of suspicion in the minds of the general public about the facts of the case under investigation and also about the Mumbai Police, health services and other state support services,” the statement said.
The allegation also claimed that the presenters of certain television channels had been “conducting a 24×7 vituperative campaign against the Mumbai police” that would likely “erode public trust” in the institution. Claiming that the Mumbai Police was one of the oldest police forces in India, the statement maintained that any malicious attempt to tarnish its reputation was “not in the public interest”.
The statement noted that the right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty was being “seriously violated by the media that conducted their own trial and created an atmosphere of prejudice.”
The petition also sought various instructions from the Central Government, the Press Council of India, the Association of News Broadcasters, the News Broadcasting Standards Authority, and the state government to issue guidelines to media companies to refrain from posting and circulating false, disparaging and scandalous comments, posts on social media. , news, that supposedly would endanger the reputation of the city police.
“Media organizations should be instructed to ensure that information on ongoing investigations is done in a balanced, ethical, impartial and objective manner and not to turn such information into a media trial and smear campaign against the police and others”, the petition said. .
“Media organizations should indulge in ethical reporting and responsible journalism rather than sensationalism for Television Rating Point (PRT),” the petition read, seeking direction for concerned authorities to frame the guidelines that the media should follow when reporting such. cases.
The petition is not yet scheduled for hearing.
Rajput, a Bollywood star, was found hanging in his apartment in the suburbs of Bandra on June 14.
While the Mumbai police registered an accidental death report and began an investigation, on July 25 his father filed a complaint with the Patna police alleging that the actor’s girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, and her relatives had incited his suicide.
The case was later transferred to the Central Investigation Office. The Enforcement Directorate is investigating money laundering allegations against Rhea and her family; The Office of Narcotics Control is investigating claims that he used to use drugs and also supplies them to Rajputs.
Chakraborty’s attorney, Satish Manehsinde, has denied the charges. “Rhea has never used drugs in her life. She is ready for a blood test, ”Maneshinde said.
Chakraborty, 28, has been questioned twice in this case by the ED and her statement filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
(With PTI inputs)
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