Bombay HC quashes lower court gag order on media coverage of Sohrabuddin case

The Bombay High Court today quashed a gag order issued by a Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court that prohibited the media from reporting on the Sohrabuddin trial..On November 29 last year, CBI judge SJ Sharma allowed an application made by defence counsel Wahab Khan to ban print and electronic media from publishing or reporting anything on the trial till the judgment is passed..This prompted a group of local journalists including Neeta Kolhatkar to file a writ petition in the Bombay High Court, contending, among other things, that the CBI judge’s order violates the principles of an open trial under Section 327 CrPC..The journalists were represented by Aabad Ponda and Abhinav Chandrachud, who were assisted by Varsha Bhogle and Shailendra Singh..When the matter came up for hearing today, a single judge Bench of the High Court lifted the gag order, stating that the defence lawyers who approached the CBI court had neither relied on any provisions of law to push their claims, nor had they shown anything to substantiate the fact that their lives were in any danger..According to sources, Justice Revati Mohite-Dere also observed that given the chequered history of the case, the public were interested and had every right to be kept abreast of developments. Justice Mohite-Dere also added that mere allegations of sensationalism in reportage was not cause enough to prevent the media at large from reporting.