SC to hear plea on TV show on teachers’ recruitment scam involving Chautala
The Supreme Court on Friday said it will hear next week the petition of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala to restrain a television channel from telecasting an episode based on the teachers’ recruitment scam in which he has been convicted. The episode is a reconstruction of the scam.
The petition in this regard was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir which said it will hear the matter concerning balancing the right of freedom of speech and expression and the rights of the accused.
Chautala and other convicts have filed an appeal against the order of the division bench of the Delhi high court which had on Thursday set aside the order of its single judge bench restraining telecast of the TV show.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for them contended that telecast of the show, would prejudice their case in the high court. He said the promo of the programme clearly show the reconstruction of the event and characters of the case in which the accused have been convicted.
Their plea, however, was opposed by senior advocate Harish Salve appearing for Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd, subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Television in India. He said the pre-censorship order would not apply as the trial in the case was over and any order restraining the telecast of the show would be like a gag on media.
The petition has challenged the Delhi high court order on Thursday by which a division bench set aside the single judge’s 22 February order restraining Sony TV from the telecast of the episode of Crime Patrol Dastak till 4 April when their appeal challenging their conviction was to come up for hearing.
Chautala, his then Officer on Special Duty Vidya Dhar and political advisor Sher Singh Badshami had moved the high court to stop telecast of the show on Sony TV channel on the ground that it would prejudice their case.
They had recently moved the high court against the conviction and 10-year jail term for their alleged roles in the recruitment of 3,206 junior basic trained teachers in the state.
Chautala is currently lodged in the Tihar Jail following his conviction by a special Central Bureau of Investigation court along with his MLA son and others.
He was chief minister when 3,206 junior basic trained teachers were recruited in 2000. The victim’s family alleged that police tried to hush up the matter, but an FIR was lodged when they denied to take back their complaint. Senior police officials refused to divulge details.
The petition in this regard was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir which said it will hear the matter concerning balancing the right of freedom of speech and expression and the rights of the accused.
Chautala and other convicts have filed an appeal against the order of the division bench of the Delhi high court which had on Thursday set aside the order of its single judge bench restraining telecast of the TV show.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for them contended that telecast of the show, would prejudice their case in the high court. He said the promo of the programme clearly show the reconstruction of the event and characters of the case in which the accused have been convicted.
Their plea, however, was opposed by senior advocate Harish Salve appearing for Multi Screen Media Pvt Ltd, subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Television in India. He said the pre-censorship order would not apply as the trial in the case was over and any order restraining the telecast of the show would be like a gag on media.
The petition has challenged the Delhi high court order on Thursday by which a division bench set aside the single judge’s 22 February order restraining Sony TV from the telecast of the episode of Crime Patrol Dastak till 4 April when their appeal challenging their conviction was to come up for hearing.
Chautala, his then Officer on Special Duty Vidya Dhar and political advisor Sher Singh Badshami had moved the high court to stop telecast of the show on Sony TV channel on the ground that it would prejudice their case.
They had recently moved the high court against the conviction and 10-year jail term for their alleged roles in the recruitment of 3,206 junior basic trained teachers in the state.
Chautala is currently lodged in the Tihar Jail following his conviction by a special Central Bureau of Investigation court along with his MLA son and others.
He was chief minister when 3,206 junior basic trained teachers were recruited in 2000. The victim’s family alleged that police tried to hush up the matter, but an FIR was lodged when they denied to take back their complaint. Senior police officials refused to divulge details.