On Wednesday, the Central Govt told the High Court of Bombay that it didn't support media trials, but statutory & self-regulatory guidelines for the print as well as electronic media already exist.
It also said that the Apex Court had accepted the role of the National Broadcasters Association, a private body, as a regulatory authority for TV news channels, & the Supreme Court has also held that the media freedom should not be interfered with.
The High Court had asked earlier if there is any statutory mechanism to regulate the content broadcast by electronic media.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta & Justice G S Kulkarni was hearing a bunch of PILs seeking that the media, particularly news channels, be directed to be restrained in their reportage on the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
The petitioners, which included some former senior police officers, said that news channels were conducting a media trial into the case by presuming the guilt of the accused.
On Wednesday, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, who appeared for the Union government, said that while statutory guidelines already existed for TV news content, it was perhaps required to see if there was anything missing in these guidelines.
ASG said that "We do not seek to justify media trial. All courts have condemned media trial. We accept that position".
He added that "There is an existing statutory framework which covers electronic media. News broadcasters also have self regulatory guidelines....Also, the SC was informed about the NBA model which was accepted. They accepted that media should not be interfered with".
He also referred to the Apex Court's judgement in the Sahara case where it had held that it was a fundamental paradigm of freedom of speech that media must be free from governmental control in the matter of "content" & censorship & free speech were "sworn enemies".
High Court will continue hearing the Govt's arguments in the case on Friday.
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