Delhi HC to hear plea by film producers against Republic TV on Monday

The Delhi High Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea by leading Bollywood producers seeking to restrain Republic TV and Times Now from making alleged ldquoirresponsible derogatory and defamatory remarks against the film industry and conducting media trials against its members on various issuesJustice Rajiv Shakdher who had earlier issued notices to media houses AGR Outlier Media Pvt Ltd and Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd has directed them to ensure that no defamatory content will be uploaded on social media platforms or displayed on their channelsThe court has sought replies of Republic TV its editorinchief Arnab Goswami and reporter Pradeep Bhandari Times Now editorinchief Rahul Shivshankar and group editor Navika Kumar and intermediaries Google Facebook and Twitter on the leading Bollywood producers pleaThe lawsuit by four Bollywood industry associations and thirtyfour leading producers including those owned by Aamir Khan Shahrukh Khan Salman Khan Karan Johar Ajay Devgn Anil Kapoor Rohit Shetty as also Yash Raj Films and R S Entertainment has also sought that the channels be restrained from interfering with the right to privacy of persons associated with the industryThe court was assured by the counsel for the media houses that they will follow the programme code and the Cable TV Networks Regulation ActIt had questioned the plaintiffs for not making individual celebrities parties in the suit and they are being represented through associationsTo this the counsel for the producers had submitted that the celebrities are members of the associations and said he would take instructions on making them individual partiesObserving that people are afraid of the media the fourth pillar of democracy because of its powers the high court had said Princess Diana died while racing away from the media and recalled the black and white Doordarshan era to be much betterThe suit has said ldquoThis comes in the wake of these channels using highly derogatory words and expressions for Bollywood such as dirt filth scum druggies and expressions such as it is Bollywood where the dirt needs to be cleaned and cocaine and LSD drenched BollywoodrdquoThose who have filed the suit are The Film and Television Producers Guild Of India PGI The Cine and TV Artistes Association CINTAA Indian Film and TV Producers Council IFTPC Screenwriters Association SWA Aamir Khan Productions AdLabs Films Ajay Devgn FflimsAndolan Films Anil Kapoor Film and Communication Network Arbaaz Khan Productions Ashutosh Gowariker Productions BSK Network and Entertainment Cape of Good Films Clean Slate Filmz and Dharma ProductionsThe list includes Emmay Entertainment and Motion Pictures Excel Entertainment Filmkraft Productions Hope Production Kabir Khan Films Luv Films Macguffin Pictures Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment One India Stories RS Entertainment Ramesh Sippy Entertainment Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures Red Chillies Entertainment Reel Life Productions Reliance Big Entertainment Rohit Shetty PicturezThe other plaintiffs are Roy Kapur Films Salman Khan Films Sikhya Entertainment Sohail Khan Productions Tiger Baby Digital Vinod Chopra Films Vishal Bhardwaj Pictures and Yashraj FilmsIn the plea the producers have sought that the defendants media persons shall take down all the defamatory content published by them against the film industryIt claimed that the privacy of the members of Bollywood is being invaded and their reputations are being irreparably damaged by painting the entire industry as ldquocriminals seeped in drug culturerdquoKeep 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