Karnataka High Court Directs Media To Strictly Follow Program Code

Karnataka High Court Directs Media To Strictly Follow Program Code

The Karnataka High Court (HC) issued an order prohibiting all broadcasts which are not strictly in conformity with the terms of program code while reporting. The order was passed on March 6 2021 on a PIL filed by an advocate affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the wake of the sex CD scandal which led to the resignation of State Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi.

The single-judge Court of Justice PS Dinesh Kumar has passed an interim order directing news channels to strictly follow the 'Program Code' defined under Section 5 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 (Act) read with Rule 6 of the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994.

The HC issued the said directions while hearing a petition filed by Advocate Arma V Hiremath (Petitioner) who is an active member of the BJP serving in the legal cell of the said party. The petition listed 70 media outlets, including newspapers, as respondents.

The petitioner sought directions to the Central Government and the State Government for implementation of the judgment of the Supreme Court (SC) passed in the case titled K S Puttaswamy v. Union of India for safeguarding the right to privacy under Article 21 of Constitution.

He further sought directions to the Commissioner of Police (CP) for taking action against media platforms that are violating the program code as mentioned in rule 6 of the Cable Television Network Rules.

The petitioner put emphasis on the instance of the telecast by media houses wherein it released the contents of a CD allegedly containing visuals of Jarkiholi in a compromising position with a woman. He added that the media channels have violated the privacy of an individual.

It was further claimed by the petitioner that he is trying to protect his right to privacy as he apprehends that the media platforms may get in hold of explicit material of the petitioner through some unknown sources, broadcast or publish the same in their platforms thereby infringe upon his right to privacy.

The petitioner added that he belongs to a BJP and presuming that he may be targeted by certain vested interests who have been trying to target his dignity and reputation.

The petition reads that the programs, visuals telecasted by the broadcasters offend Rule 6, as the content shown by them contains obscene, defamatory, deliberately false, suggestive innuendos content that intends to malign or slander individuals.

The Police Commissioner of Bengaluru issued an order on 9 March 2021, prohibiting all broadcasts which are not strictly following the terms of program given under the Act read with rule 6 of the Cable Television Network rules.