The Judiciary has taken a serious view on the way in which the news channel ‘Live India’ showed the fake story and the visuals of sting operation on August 30. The Delhi High court asked the government what kind of provisions are being drawn up in this regard to impose a code of content on the TV news channel.
The court said in clear words that it was the responsibility of the Government to act if any television news channel aired fake sting operation that harmed honor of common people.
The court also asked about the status of the Broadcasting Bill, proposed by the union government, on which so much discussion have been done already. The court ordered the Information and Broadcasting ministry to file the reply by September 17 before the court.
Earlier, Rahul Verma, a social worker, had filed a Public Interest Litigation in the court and sought some regulations on the practices of sting operations by TV channels.
The Delhi HC Bench Chief Justice M K Sharma and Justice Sanjeev Khanna said:
There has been so much discussion regarding the need of the bill. The IB Minister has said that the government is bringing the bill.
What has come out so far? If the sting is concocted, it is your responsibility to take action. Some kind of restriction has to be there. It is not about an individual case but about broader policy.
At the same time, the Centre informed the Court that the I&B ministry has been issued a show-cause notice to the news channel ‘Live India’ and had asked the channel management team to submit the answer within three days.
The ministry has asked the channel that why any action against it should not be taken for showing irresponsible reporting in the fake sting operation against the school teacher.
However, the court expressed its dissatisfaction by the reply given by the IB ministry. The Division bench said: Under which provision of the law you have issued the show cause notice. If offence is committed, you have to register a case and start criminal proceedings.
On September 7, the High Court had taken a suo motu notice of the case on the basis of the reports published in newspapers in Delhi. The court later asked the Government and the Delhi Police to submit their report in this matter of the fake sting operation.
The worst part of the story for the TV journalists that the event of fake sting operation has happened at a time when News channels are opposing the proposal of the broadcast bill proposed by the IB ministry. The bill was about to bring a Content Code on News channels to regulate news and current affairs content.
Read more about Fake Sting operation done by ‘Live India’- [1], [2], [3],[4], [5]
