The Mumbai High Court (HC) has ordered the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to be included in petitions filed by former Indian Police Service (IPS) officials and an activist regarding the separate investigations under way by three central agencies in the death case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
The petitions were filed as an objection to a media trial after investigating agencies made targeted leaks to a section of the media, after which the public was being prejudiced against the Mumbai police.
The court also sought to learn of the lack of a mechanism for the government authorities concerned to regulate electronic media and ordered the prosecution of more channels against which the petitioners had raised their objections.
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A bank in the HC division, made up of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Judge GS Kulkarni, heard public interest litigation (PIL) filed by former IPS officials and an activist.
The court was informed that even though the HC through its order of September 3 had directed media channels to exercise restraint while reporting on the investigations in the case of the Rajput’s death, some media outlets and television stations had shown little regard for the order.
The petitions urged the HC to take note of the atrocious conduct of the media and television channels.
The lead attorney, Dr. Milind Sathe, who appeared on behalf of the eight former IPS officials, informed the court that after the September 3 order, some channels had become more vociferous in their smear campaign regarding to the Mumbai police.
He recorded the transcripts of some of the news channels to reinforce his argument and argued that the court should take notice and make these channels part of the petitions.
Leading advocate Devadatt Kamat, who appeared on behalf of activist Nilesh Navlakha, agreed with Dr. Sathe’s presentations.
Kamat alleged that the parallel trial of a section of the media had not subsided because the investigating agencies themselves were leaking information about the investigation.
Kamat agreed with submissions made by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that he was not leaking any information to the media.
However, he singled out NCB and ED and prayed in court that they would be part of the petitions in an attempt to determine whether information from the investigation was being leaked by them to the media.
The News Broadcasting Standards Association (NBSA), through advocate Nisha, claimed that the body was a self-regulatory authority for news channels and had also received complaints from viewers about some news channels exceeding their reporting on the news. Rajput case.
He stated that the authority was investigating the complaints and would like to file a counter-affidavit stating the actions taken by them.
The court confirmed his statement.
The News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) also sought to be included in the petitions since many channels were its members but were not represented.
The court also confirmed this request.
The court took note of the separate petition from lawyer Asim Sarode seeking instructions from the authorities to establish regulatory mechanisms on the operation of the media.
“We are surprised that there is no state regulatory mechanism to control electronic media and we are the prima facie opinion that this body (NBSA) has no teeth. The state may respond in an affidavit and indicate the extent of state control that is exercised with respect to the transmission of news that has serious ramifications and other ancillary matters that could arise for our consideration in deciding this matter, ”the court observed.
The court ordered the inclusion of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Government as part of all petitions.
The court also ordered the NBSA to listen to complaints received by them.
“Such processing of these petitions will not prevent the NBSA from considering the complaints it has received and taking appropriate action under the law. The resulting decisions can be included in the affidavit, “he added.
All the news channels, which have become part of the petitions, have been ordered to submit affidavits before September 30.
The bank will listen to the requests on October 8.
The court again recalled that the media must continue to exercise restraint while reporting on the investigation in the Rajput case in accordance with its order of September 3 in an attempt to ensure that the ongoing investigation is not hampered.
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