Don't Give Unnecessary Publicity To Pune Woman's Death: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has asked the media not to give unnecessary publicity to an incident where a woman allegedly committed suicide in Pune and her suspected illicit relations with a man, according to an order made available on Friday.

A division bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale gave the directive on Thursday while hearing a petition filed by the woman's father against news articles on his daughter, her death and her alleged relationship.

Senior counsel Shirish Gupte, appearing for the woman's father, told the court the petitioner had learnt that his daughter fell from the balcony of her flat in Pune on February 8 and was declared dead at the hospital.

Soon after the incident, various news reports in print and electronic media emerged alleging the 23-year-old woman was in an illicit relationship with a man, Gupte said, dubbing the reports as defamatory and derogatory.

Around 12 audio clips of alleged conversations of the petitioners daughter with some unknown person were circulated by political parties and the media, Mr Gupte argued.

Mr Gupte referred to a high court judgment delivered on a petition against media trial in the death case of actor Sushant Singh Rajput that laid down guidelines to be followed by the media while reporting on sensitive cases.

The bench, in its order made available on Friday, noted that it found prima facie substance in the petitioners argument and directed the media to scrupulously follow the guidelines issued by the HC and not to publish or give any unnecessary publicity to the incident of death of the daughter X of the petitioner and further alleged illicit relationship of the daughter X with Y, the court said.

The court posted the matter for further hearing on March 31. 

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