In an unusual move, a Mysuru court has prohibited the media from reporting anything on the court blasts except for official communication released by the police.
The II Additional I Civil Judge & JMFC Mysuru issued the order on August 6, in response to a petition from the police seeking curbs on the media coverage of the August 1 explosion in the toilet complex on the premises of the Mysuru City court.
The order said: “The News paper and Electronic media are hereby directed to not to broadcast the other information except the information provided by the concerned department till completion of the investigation or the accused persons are secured.” On Wednesday, the Mysuru Police tweeted a copy of the operative portion of the order.
Investigating Officer in the case, Mysuru ACP Mallik told The News Minute that he was the petitioner in the case. “All kinds of things are being said in the case. It might hinder the investigation. The accused might learn of our investigation and be forewarned,” Mallik told The News Minute.
Mallik said that there were two or three precedents to the police seeking an injunction on media coverage of a case, but could not provide further details. He said that the order had been sent to the district Department for Information and Publicity for dissemination.
It is unknown whether there have been precedents elsewhere on the coverage of investigation of such a crime.
However, the central government has approved rules prohibiting the live coverage of anti-terror operations by television channels. The government had said in May 2015 that it would introduce a clause in the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, to implement the move.
Under the new rules, television channels would have to await official statements released by the authorities concerned. No further developments have been reported on that front.
This Mysuru city police's move is in line with the Home Ministry’s 2010 Advisory on Media Policy of Police. One of the points of the advisory says: “In cases where National security is at stake, no information should be shared with the media till the whole operation is over or until all the accused persons have been apprehended.”