HC sets guidelines for Central probe agencies, media on coverage of cases

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court is learnt to have set some guidelines for Central probe agencies and media relating to ongoing probe in cases involving Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee.

Recently, Abhishek’s wife Rujira Banerjee had moved the High Court alleging that a media trial is afoot against her and her husband and that media organisations concerned should be restrained from publishing any news with regards to her or Abhishek. Her petition alleged that most of the reports are based on rumours, speculations and conjectures which have little to no connection with the actuals of the circumstances of the ongoing probe. She alleged that she and her husband are being portrayed as guilty persons.

On Tuesday, Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya issued a set of directives both for the media and the Central probe agencies. For the agencies, it directed that before filing of a charge-sheet, the investigating agencies (in the present case, the ED) shall not disclose to the public or the media the circumstances, reasons and/or details of the interrogation, raids and search of any particular person, be he/she an accused, a suspect of a witness.

Further, “the Investigating Agencies in general and the ED in particular shall not involve or be accompanied by media persons during any raid/interrogation, search and seizure procedure at any point of time and also shall not disclose prior information of such raids, interrogations, searches and seizures before holding the same.”

For media, the following guidelines were issued: i) All forms of media - print, visual, audio or otherwise - shall clearly delineate the slots/sections/print-space/web page which are designated specifically for news items and distinguish those from similar spaces which are designated for other articles, opinions and/or other literatures.

ii) The media, while reporting news items, shall ensure that the reporting and information disseminated is objective, accurate and able to be corroborated by concrete materials and sources. The exact source may or may not be disclosed in the news item but the editors/board of editors/management of the particular media entity must be able to corroborate it by cogent material, if so required by any court of law or Investigating Agency or other body authorised to do so in law, including self-regulating authorities in respect of the media.

iii) Even if the media reports/articles contain opinions and investigative write-ups or other literature in the form of entertainment, where particular persons are stigmatized or ridicule or aspersions/insinuations are mad in any manner, the names of the authors of such articles shall be clearly disclosed in/with the article/byte.

iv) The media, during investigation and before filing of charge-sheet, shall not publish photographs of any person linking him/her to the investigation, in news items reporting about the said investigation or any facet of it. Even if photographs of persons who are involved in any manner or associated with the investigation are published otherwise and in different context during the course of such investigation, the said photograph or article carrying the photographs shall be placed not in exact proximity with the reporting of the investigation but separately.

v) The media shall not publish or broadcast or telecast live video, audio/print footage of the process of search and seizure, raid or interrogation at any point of time.

The court said that the guidelines shall be followed by the investigating agencies, in particular, the ED and all media houses, including the respondents herein, till January 15, 2024 or until further order, whichever is earlier.