Key points:
- The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notices to several media houses and journalists over their coverage of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rapjut’s death case.
- The court has also asked the defendants to ensure that no defamatory content is displayed on their channels or uploaded on their social media handles.
The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notices to several media houses and journalists over their coverage of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rapjut’s death case.
Republic TV, Times Now, their editors Arnab Goswami and Navika Kumar are among those who were served with the high court’s notice. The court was hearing the petition filed by 34 Bollywood production houses seeking restrain on the content aired by the media houses.
The court has also asked the defendants to ensure that no defamatory content is displayed on their channels or uploaded on their social media handles.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher said, “In the meanwhile, the counsel of the defendants (channels) have also ensured me that they would follow the program code and the rules framed under the Cable TV Regulation Act.”
A host of leading Bollywood filmmakers had in October filed a lawsuit against “media trials of Bollywood personalities”, for calling them names and painting the entire “Bollywood as criminals” and sought action against them in the fallout of the Rajput death case investigation.
The plea filed through DSK Legal had also sought directions to the various social media platforms to restrain them from publishing the remarks of these journalists which is ultimately leading to media trials of Bollywood personalities and interfering with the right to privacy of persons associated with Bollywood.
According to the petition, the suit was filed due to the channels using derogatory words for Bollywood such as “dirt”, “filth”, “scum”, “druggies” and expressions such as “it is Bollywood where the dirt needs to be cleaned”, “all the perfumes of Arabia cannot take away the stench and the stink of this filth and scum of the underbelly of Bollywood”, “this is the dirtiest industry in the country”, and “cocaine and LSD drenched Bollywood”.
The prominent petitioners include The Film & Television Producers Guild Of India (PGI), The Cine & TV Artistes’ Association (CINTAA), Indian Film and TV Producers Council (IFTPC), Screenwriters Association (SWA), Aamir Khan Productions, Ad-Labs Films, Ajay DevgnFflims, Andolan Films, Anil Kapoor Film and Communication Network, Arbaaz Khan Productions, Ashutosh Gowariker Productions, BSK Network and Entertainment, Cape of Good Films, Clean Slate Filmz, Dharma Productions, Emmay Entertainment & Motion Pictures, Excel Entertainment , Filmkraft Productions, Hope Production, Kabir Khan Films, Luv Films, Macguffin Pictures, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, One India Stories, R.S. Entertainment (Ramesh Sippy Entertainment),Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures, Red Chillies Entertainment, Reel Life Productions, Reliance Big Entertainment, Rohit Shetty Picturez, Roy Kapur Films, Salman Khan Films, Sikhya Entertainment, Sohail Khan Productions, Tiger Baby Digital, Vinod Chopra Films, Vishal Bhardwaj Pictures and Yashraj Films.
