On Thursday, the Bombay High Court passed an order, where it stated that it expects media organisations to exercise restraint in the media coverage of the Sushant Singh Rajput case, as per media reportst. The order stated that while publishing or reporting details of the case, the media must show some restraint.
Adding that the media should report the case in a manner that does not hamper the investigation, a division bench of Justices A A Sayed and S P Tavade, passed the order.
The court, which was hearing two petitions, one, by eight retired IPS officers, who rallied together on behalf of the Mumbai Police, which sought directions to halt the "unfair, malicious and false media campaign" against the Mumbai Police in the matter and another by filmmaker Nilesh Navlakha and two others, seeking direction to media organisations not to sensationalise reportage in the case.
The petitioner of the former PIL filed in the High Court include former director generals of police M N Singh, P S Pasricha, K Subramanyam, D Sivanandan, Sanjeev Dayal and Satish Mathur, former additional DGP K P Raghuvanshi and former Mumbai police commissioner D N Jadhav.
"We urge and expect the media to exercise restraint before publishing or reporting on details of the investigation, and report in such a manner that it does not hamper the investigation," the court said.
Consequently, the bench stated that it would hear the matter further after listening to what the Union government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, have to say in response to the pleas.
In the PIL filed by the retired IPS officers, among other things, the petitioners have sought guidelines or instructions for the media houses, whether print, electronic, radio, Internet or television or any other form, to refrain from publishing and circulating any false, derogatory and scandalous comments, social media posts, news stories, etc, that could jeopardise the police's reputation and may cause the people to lose faith in the system and the police administration, or hinder the cause of administration of justice.
They have also urged for instructions on "ethical reporting" and responsible journalism, constant monitoring by the relevant authorities, and action in case any media house violates the same.
The high court posted the petitions for further hearing on September 10.
(With input from Agencies)
