Muzaffarpur Shelter Home case: SC issues notice in petition against Patna HC’s Media Gag

The Supreme Court today issued notice in the petition challenging the media gag imposed by the Patna High Court in reporting on the Muzaffarpur shelter homes case..The petition was heard by the Bench of Justices Madan Lokur and Deepak Gupta. .Senior counsel Shekhar Naphade and Advocate Fauzia Shakil appeared for the petitioner..The Court observed that a balance has to be maintained and that a complete ban on reporting will not serve the purpose..The Court has sought assistance from the counsel for the petitioner in framing guidelines over the question of media reporting in this case..However, the Supreme Court stayed the operation of the Patna High Court’s order to the extent where the High Court had appointed an amicus to interview the victims for rehabilitation purposes..The Court observed that this direction of the Patna High Court was in direct contravention of the orders passed by the Supreme Court in its earlier order..The Court will hear the matter next on Tuesday, September 18..The Patna High Court’s blanket ban was imposed last month, on the ground that press reportage may hamper investigation in the case..Earlier, the Supreme Court had requested the media to exercise restraint while reporting on the instant case and had asked the electronic media not to telecast any images of the victims even in morphed or blurred form..The scope of this order of the Supreme Court was subsequently expanded when the Court imposed a blanket ban on publication of images of victims of sexual assault pan India by Print, electronic as well as social media.