Mumbai: The Bombay High Court observed on Thursday that the media should exercise restraint while reporting on the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, so that the ongoing CBI investigation is not hampered.
“We expect and urge the media to exercise restraint in reporting the investigation with respect to the case which would not hamper investigation in any manner,” a bench of Justices AA Sayed and SP Tavade said while hearing two PILs which sought restraining orders against ‘media trial’ in the Sushant case.
One of the PILs was filed by eight former top police officers of Maharashtra — former DGPs PS Pasricha, K Subramaniam, D Shivanandan, Sanjeev Dayal, Satish Chandra Mathur and former commissioners of Mumbai Police Mahesh N Singh, Dhananjay N Jadhav and former Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief K P Raghuvanshi.
“A section of television channels has been trying to influence the course of investigation being done by central agencies through their biased reporting and false propaganda. This has created an air of suspicion in the minds of the general public as to the facts of the case under investigation and also about the Mumbai Police, health services and other support services of the state,” the PIL stated.
The plea added that “anchors of some TV channels have been virtually running a vituperative 24×7 campaign against Mumbai Police and its Commissioner, DCP of the zone and other officers by attacking them by name in the most unbecoming manner”.
After hearing submissions, the court issued notices to respondents and said that it expects media channels to practise restraint while reporting on the actor’s death case and not to hamper the investigation in any manner.
Seeking time to respond to the plea, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) of the central government Anil Singh said the court should not pass such an order without hearing the channels as it would have massive implications.
The two-member bench posted the next hearing next week and said it would hear the representatives of TV channels and CBI before deciding on reliefs sought in PILs.
