Railgate accused Kumar seeks gag order against media. NEW DELHI: Stung by media reports on the cash-for-post scam in the railways, suspended railway board member Mahesh Kumar now wants a gag order against media. Kumar, along with co-accused Sandeep Goyal, has approached the Delhi high court seeking a ban on reporting of the "telephonic transcripts/CDs, identity and statement of the witnesses" and other documents, including identity of the accused in news channels, news articles and websites in connection with the CBI case lodged against them. Complaining they are being subjected to a media trial which violates their fundamental right, the accused urged the HC to ban reporting of the case since it is sub-judice. Praying for relief, the petition, filed through advocate Gaurang Kanth, accuses the media of "a continuous, malicious and defamatory" campaign by publishing and telecasting the alleged telephonic conversations, details of the accused and statements of the witnesses, which forms an integral part of documents submitted by the CBI in court. "The respondents by way of various media reports, articles, debates and interviews have published and telecasted the alleged phone transcripts, witness statements in their respective newspapers and TV/news channels and had in fact conclusively labeled the petitioners as guilty, corrupt and bribe takers before the public at large even before the trial," the petition, which is likely to be taken up for hearing on Tuesday, argues. Pointing out that the documents on which reports have appeared in the press are privileged ones, the accused have argued that publication has caused "real and substantial risk of prejudice to the proper administration of justice or to the fairness of trial". Seeking relief, the petition adds that by conducting malicious debates and publications in their respective news channels and newspapers "involving various personalities squarely based upon the alleged phone conversations created real and substantial risk of prejudice to fairness of the trial or to the proper administration of justice".
Posted on: Tue, 30 Jul 2013 10:45:53 +0000
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