NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court has sought responses from Republic TV and Times Now to a plea filed by major Bollywood production houses against the massive “smear campaign against the industry” run by the news organisations while covering the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. The court has also asked the media outlets to not run any defamatory content on their channels or social media handles. 

The court was hearing the lawsuit filed by four Bollywood industry associations and 34 leading producers, which also sought to restrain the two outlets from interfering with the right to privacy of people working in the Bollywood industry. 

The suit also sought orders against unnamed defendants and social media platforms to refrain from making or publishing allegedly irresponsible, derogatory and defamatory remarks against Bollywood.

Senior advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing on behalf of the plaintiffs, submitted that a certain section of the news media seems to have abandoned journalistic principles. He asserted that yellow journalism is on the rise and judicial intervention is required in the matter.

"...the idea is not to attack the Fourth Estate. What we called yellow journalism - that fringe has become mainstream. So a signal has to come from the court," Bar and Bench quoted him as saying.

To this, justice Rajiv Shakdher responded: "Courts hesitate (in restraining media reports) because it is a constitutional right. But you are right, we expect fair reportage..."

With reference to the orders passed by the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) warning against media trials, the court went on to ask: "What is that should be put in place to change the way the reporting is carried out?...There needs to be some toning down. There are orders of NBSA. But it seems that news channels are not following that. As an officer of the court, what is the next step here if you do not follow self-regulation?"

The case has further been adjourned to 14 December for hearing.