The Bombay High Court on Thursday asked the media to exercise restraint in reporting about the Sushant Singh Rajput case. A division bench of Justices A A Sayed and S P Tavade said the Media should not report in any manner where the investigation on the on-going case will get hampered.
The court was hearing two pleas, including one filed by eight former IPS officers, who had moved the High Court against the “unfair, malicious and false media campaign” against Mumbai Police.
"We urge and expect the media to exercise restraint before publishing or reporting on details of the investigation, and report in such a manner that it does not hamper the investigation," the court said.
The court also said before hearing the matter further, it would like to first see what the Union government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing the case, have to say in response to the pleas.
Appearing for three activists who had moved court against coverage by certain media channels, senior advocate Milind Sathe said the media’s reporting is such that there is an attempt to influence neutral investigation into the case, Bar and Bench reported. He argued that the media was running a "parallel investigation and the reporting is completely defamatory towards the city 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 police commissioner D N Jadhav.
The plea filed by the retired IPS officers said a section of TV channels has been trying to influence the course of investigation being carried out by central agencies like the CBI, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), and is running a false propaganda against the Mumbai Police.
"We (petitioners) are not concerned about which agency is probing the case or who the accused persons are...we are only concerned about the media trial being conducted," Sathe said.
The retired IPS officers have sought a direction to news media organisations to refrain from publishing or circulating any false, derogatory and scandalous comments which may jeopardise the reputation of the city police.
The high court posted the petitions for further hearing on September 10.
Rajput, 34, was found dead in his apartment in suburban Bandra on June 14 following which the Mumbai Police registered an Accidental Death Report and recorded statements of over 50 people, including some of his family members and Bollywood personalities.
The late actor's father on July 25 lodged a complaint with Patna Police, accusing Rajput's girlfriend and actress Rhea Chakraborty and her family members of abetting his suicide and misappropriating his money.
The Supreme Court last month upheld the transfer of the FIR lodged in Patna to the CBI, which is currently probing the case.
Besides, the ED is probing allegations of money laundering against Chakraborty and her family, while the NCB is probing a drugs trafficking case linked to the case of Rajput's death.