The Delhi High Court today asked the TV news channels to exercise restraint while reporting any news related to actress Rakul Preet Singh and her alleged involvement in the sensational drug racket case, and asked them to abide by the Programme Code and other guidelines.
The HC passed these orders while dealing with a petition filed by the actress related to the "unsubstantiated" news reports about her in connection with now-jailed actress Rhea Chakraborty's drug case.
The order was passed by a single-judge bench of the HC headed by Justice Navin Chawla.
In her petition, Singh told the HC that she was shooting in Hyderabad and suddenly discovered on September 11th in the evening that Rhea Chakraborty had taken her name before the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) as a person who was consuming drugs.
She alleged that the media houses and TV channels of the country had since been airing defamatory and deliberately false reports against her.
She told the HC that the alleged statement had already been retracted by Chakraborty on September 10, 2020.
She sought a direction from the HC to the union government, the Prasar Bharathi, the Press Council of India and the News Broadcasters Association to take action against the erring media houses, in accordance with the law and to follow their own guidelines.
Following this, the court issued a notice to the union government, the Prasar Bharathi, the Press Council of India and the News Broadcasters Association directing them to expeditiously decide on the issues raised in Singh's petition, including passing any interim directions.