Can excessive media reporting hinder justice? Bombay HC asks Centre

The Bombay High Court today asked the Union government to clarify whether excessive reportage by the press on an ongoing investigation amounted to interference in the administration of justice under the Contempt of Courts ActA bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni asked the government to state by November 6 if such reportage adversely affects the probe and subsequent trial and if the court should lay guidelines on media reportingIf there is excessive reporting that can put an accused on guard and he may resort to destroying evidence or absconding Or if that person is actually innocent the excessive media reporting can damage his reputation it saidWe would not like the media to cross its boundaries and we would also like to be within our boundaries the court said and asked the state if such reportage would amount to interference and if the government thought the high court had the jurisdiction to frame guidelinesWhether excessive reporting by media in an ongoing investigation amounts to interference in administration of justice under Section 2c of the Contempt of Courts Act and should we lay guidelines This is the issue before us high court saidIt also asked the governments counsel Additional Solicitor General ASG Anil Singh to consider scenarios where such reportage on an ongoing probe where a charge sheet was yet to be filed influenced the investigating officer or resulted in a witness being threatenedIt asked if the court must step in and formulate guidelines to regulate the press to avoid such scenariosIf media identifies that a person is a very vital witness he could be won over threatened or he could be even physically harmed so that he does not give evidence it saidOn the possibility of the press influencing an investigating officer the high court said Think of a police officer Can anyone guarantee that he will not be influencedHe may be following a particular track Media says no this must be the track He loses track and rounds up an innocent person it saidOr if the officer is competent and does not get influenced then the media starts maligning him Is this welcome in a society governed by rule of law the high court askedThe court was hearing final arguments on a bunch of public interest litigations seeking that the media trial in the probe into actor Sushant Singh Rajputs death be stoppedThe pleas have been filed by some activists and retired police officersOn the previous hearings the high court heard the petitioners private TV news channels and the National Broadcasters Standards Authority NBSA on the need for a regulatory mechanism for the electronic mediaThe TV channels and the NBSA argued in favour of a selfregulatory mechanism and said the state must not be given any control over their contentOn Thursday the high court said it had expected the government to address the court on the queries raised aboveIt directed ASG Singh to file his written submission and address the court on November 6 on all the questions raised by the benchThe court said the media often defended such reportage by saying it constituted investigative journalismHowever investigative journalism meant to lay bare the truth it saidIs there any law which says that whatever an investigation agency collected as evidence should be laid before the public Where is the obligation for the investigating officer to disclose evidence the high court askedHow does the postmortem report come to the media unless of course it is disclosed Should we lay down guidelines on these aspects the court sought to knowThe high court also said if the press had access to information that could aid a probe then it should give such information to police under Section 38 of the Criminal Procedure Code CrPCKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever