SC favours norms for media coverage of criminal cases

Citing the Aarushi murder case, the Supreme Court on Monday, favoured the idea of evolving certain norms for coverage of criminal cases by the media in order to protect the right of privacy and reputation of affected persons.

"These are issues which requires in-depth consideration and needs to be devoted more time," a bench comprising Justices Altamas Kabir and Cyriac Joseph said and posted the matter for hearing on April 7.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Surat Singh seeking a restraint on the media from reporting pending criminal cases in the wake of the sensational murder of teenaged girl Aarushi Talwar and her domestic servant Hemraj in neighbouring Noida.

The PIL had claimed the extensive media coverage of the killings had badly damaged the reputation of Aarushi's parents Rajesh and Nupur Talwar and sought restrictions on the media from reporting such cases. The advocate has suggested certain norms should be evolved, both for media and police, for broadcasting and sharing information between them.

He submitted the norms for the media should make it clear that no innocent person is shown as guilty without the completion of investigation. Similarly police should not rush to the media before the completiton of investigation of criminal cases.

There are other petitions pending in the apex court on the same issue.