Last Updated on October 23, 2020 at 8:20 pm
The premiere investigation agency the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which is probing Sushant Singh Rajput death probe told the Bombay High Court that it has not leaked any information regarding the case to the media.
The Bombay High Court was hearing to the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) about media trials in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. The court remarked that that the media has become polarized and it was a matter of checks and balances by the media itself rather than regulations.
Representing the CBI, additional Solicitor General Anil Singh said that the Enforcement Directorate and the Narcotics Control Bureau too haven’t disclosed any information regarding the case. These two agencies are also working on the case. He said that all the three central agencies have filed affidavits in the court stating that they have not leaked any probe related information.
The additional Solicitor General added that the agencies are well acquainted with their responsibilities and there is no question of leaking information by any of the agencies.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni was hearing the PIL. The PIL sought that the media should be restrained in its of the actor’s death case. The High Court is hearing arguments about whether are required to control the content of the TV news.
The petitioners of the PIL included a group of retired police offers. They claimed that news channels were broadcasting sensitive information regarding the case. The petitioners raised questions about the source of these news channels and how were they getting such sensitive information. They alleged that the agencies involved must be feeding news channels information.
The news channels and the National Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) told the court that the electronic media has a self-regulatory mechanism and there should be no control by the state.
The lawyers of the news channels used old judgement to argue that a statutory regulatory mechanism should not be imposed.
The HC remarked that the media has changed for the worse. The Court said that the media was neutral in the past. Nowadays, it is highly polarized. This is not a question of regulations but rather of checks and balances. “If you want to criticize the government, then do it. The main issue is someone has died and the allegation is you (media) are interfering. The media has forgotten where to draw lines. Do it within the lines” it said.
