“Restraint yourself while publishing news over SSR case”: Bombay HC warns media

The Bombay supreme court on Thursday
said it expects media organisations to exercise restraint while publishing or reporting any details about investigation within the case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

A division bench of Justices A A Sayed and S P Tavade said the media should report in such a fashion that it doesn’t hamper the investigation.
The court was hearing two petitions which claimed a “media trial” was happening within the case of Rajput’s death and looked for it to be stopped.

One of the petitions was filed by eight former IPS officers against the “unfair, malicious and false media campaign” against Mumbai Police.

The petitioners 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 commissioner D N Jadhav.

The other petition was filed by filmmaker Nilesh Navlakha and two others who claim to be social activists, seeking direction to media organisations to not sensationalise reportage within the case.

“We urge and expect the media to exercise restraint before publishing or reporting on details of the investigation, and report in such a fashion that it doesn’t hamper the investigation,” the court said.

The bench said before hearing the matter further, it might wish to first see what the Union government and therefore the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, need to say in response to the pleas.
The supreme court posted the petitions for further hearing on September 10.

The court also said Navlakha shall once more serve copies of his petition to journalism channels that are respondents within the petition.

Navlakha’s advocate Devadatt Kamat told the court that they’re not demanding a prohibition on reporting within the case, but only seeking the media to stick to journalistic standards and ethics.