Several veteran editors, senior journalists, and former members of Press Council of India (PCI) appealed to Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde to intervene and facilitate the publication of the contents of the First Information Report (FIR) and developments related to it regarding the alleged corruption in the purchase of land in Amaravati Capital Region in Andhra Pradesh in the print and electronic media.
The Andhra Pradesh High Court on 15 September directed the print and electronic media including the social media platforms not to publish the contents and context of the FIR registered by the Andhra Pradesh Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) involving a former Advocate General of the state and relatives of a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.
They said that “Freedom to report such crimes from the stage of filing FIR is well within the frame of the Constitution-based-Rule of Law, in the interests of the public, democracy, and criminal justice”. They pointed out that the Supreme Court disfavoured ‘prior restraint’ and made it clear in several judgments that it should be resorted to only when such publication of news interfered in the due process of the court.
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The signatories to the statement among others included veteran editors A B K Prasad, K Ramachandra Murthy, Editor of United News of India (UNI) and former Press Council of India (PCI) member Vinay Kumar, former PCI members K Amarnath and S N Sinha, Press Club Hyderabad President Vijay Kumar Reddy, Press Club of India Vice-president and senior journalist Shahid Abbas, veteran journalist and former President of Press Club of India Gautam Lahiri and Columnist and Professor of Media Laws at Bennett University, Madabhushi Sridhar.
They concluded, “We make a humble representation requesting your good self to facilitate the ordinary publication of news about the FIR and further developments, in the public interest, to protect rule of law and equality.”
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