Foreigner Can’t Scuttle Citizens' Rights Under Article 19: Centre To Calcutta HC In Plea By Abhishek Banerjee’s Wife Against Media Coverage

At an earlier hearing, a single-bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya had acknowledged that while guidelines may be passed for reporting, prayer for a ‘gag order’ on the media was not acceptable in a democracy. The Central government today opposed the plea moved by Abhishek Banerjee’s wife against the ‘incessant and sensational’ coverage by the media of the petitioner’s family, including her husband, pertaining to the investigation into the multi-tier recruitment scam being carried out by the CBI and ED. The TMC MP's wife claimed that the media coverage was portraying her husband as guilty and that it was jeopardising his right to a fair trial. Her counsel argued that journalists had a higher responsibility to ensure accurate dissemination of information, and that the petitioner’s right to privacy would extend to the right to privacy of her immediate family as well. Senior Counsel appearing for Republic TV, one of the media houses accused in the writ petition, also submitted that the cause of action raised may at best be in the form of a case for defamation, but that the petitioners could not be permitted to short-circuit their way to a writ court without testing out the appropriate remedy.