SC to hear plea about TV show airing episode on Om Prakash Chautala

The Supreme Court on Friday decided to hear on March 6 a petition seeking stay on telecast of a TV show, Crime Patrol Dastak, based on teachers recruitment scam in which former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and 54 others were convicted.

The petition in this regard was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir which said it will hear the matter concerning balancing the right of freedom of speech and expression and the rights of the accused.

Chautala and other convicts have filed an appeal against the order of the division bench of the Delhi High Court which had yesterday set aside the order of its single judge bench restraining telecast of the TV show.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for them contended that telecast of the show, would prejudice their case in the High Court.

He said the promo of the programme clearly show the reconstruction of the event and characters of the case in which the accused have been convicted.

However, their plea was opposed by senior advocate Harish Salve, who was appearing for Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd, subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Television in India.

He said the pre-censorship order would not apply as the trial in the case was over and any order restraining the telecast of the show would be like a gag on media.

Chautala, his then Officer on Special Duty Vidya Dhar and political advisor Sher Singh Badshami had moved the High Court to stop telecast of the show on Sony TV channel on the ground that it would prejudice their case.

They had recently moved the High Court against the conviction and ten-year jail term for their alleged roles in the recruitment of 3206 junior basic trained teachers in the state.