In Case Against Trinamool MP's Wife, Court Guidelines For Probe Agencies

Setting guidelines for investigating agencies and the media, the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday asked probe agencies not to disclose to the public or the media before filing chargesheet, the details of the probe of any person, be he/she is an accused, a suspect or witness insofar as Rujira Banerjee is concerned.

Rujira Banerjee, the wife of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee, had petitioned the High Court alleging that the central probe agencies and the media have been assassinating her character and maligning her family by regularly publishing information regarding an investigation being carried out by the central investigating agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED) regarding alleged financial and other scams.

The court directed the respondents to strictly adhere to and said that insofar as the petitioner is concerned, "the investigating agencies (in the present case, the ED) shall not disclose to the public or the media the circumstances, reasons and/or details of the interrogation, raids and search of any particular person, be he/she an accused, a suspect of a witness." 

Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya said the investigating agencies in general and the ED, in particular, will not involve or be accompanied by media persons during any raid/interrogation, search and seizure procedure at any point of time and also will not disclose prior information of such raids, interrogations, searches and seizures before holding the same.

The court said the media, while reporting news items, will ensure that information disseminated is objective, accurate, and able to be corroborated by concrete materials and sources.

"The exact source may or may not be disclosed in the news item but the editors/board of editors/management of the particular media entity must be able to corroborate it by cogent material, if so required by any court of law or investigating agency or other body authorised to do so in law, including self-regulating authorities in respect of the media," Justice Bhattacharyya said.

He further said even if media articles contain opinions and investigative write-ups or other literature in the form of entertainment, where particular persons are stigmatised or ridiculed or aspersions/insinuations are made in any manner, the names of the authors of such articles will have to be clearly disclosed in/with the article/byte.

The court said the media, during the investigation and before the filing of the chargesheet, will not publish photographs of any person linking him/her to the investigation, in news items reporting the probe or any facet of it.

The media was further asked not to publish or broadcast or telecast live video, audio/print footage of the process of search and seizure, raid or interrogation at any point in time.

The court directed that these guidelines will be followed by the investigating agencies, in particular, the ED and all media houses, till January 15, 2024, or until further order, whichever is earlier.

The matter will come up before the court again in December.

Banerjee moved the court on the grounds of the right to privacy and alleged that fair trial is being affected.

Justice Bhattacharyya observed that even if Banerjee is not an Indian citizen but only an OCI (Overseas Citizenship of India) card holder, she is equally entitled to seek the protection of her fundamental rights sought in the petition as any full-fledged citizen of India.

Observing that by social and judicial evolution certain additional rights have been read into the right to life and personal liberty as its essential and implicit components, the court said, "right to privacy is one such right." 

Justice Bhattacharyya noted that upon specific query of the court as to whether the petitioner is an accused in any of the cases, the deputy solicitor general appearing for the ED submitted that she, at this stage, is a suspect and is being interrogated.

The court observed that a person in Indian criminal jurisprudence is innocent unless proven guilty.

The court, however, said Mrs Banerjee's prayers for protective orders in respect of her family cannot be granted at this stage.

Justice Bhattacharya said the publications allegedly made in respect of Banerjee's husband and family are not in the capacity of the said persons as her family members.

"The husband of the petitioner is a well-known political figure. Other members of her family are also prominent functionaries in the state executive," the court noted.

Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Holding that the media publications and propaganda against them is not in their capacity as members of the petitioner's family, the court said, "Rather, it is the other way round, since part of the propaganda against the petitioner maybe since she is a part of the family."

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