New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a plea by the Enforcement Directorate against an order passed by Calcutta high Court, in October last year, issuing guidelines to the media in connection with the probe against Rujira Banerjee, wife of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee . The high court had issued guidelines to probe agencies to not disclose to either public or media, before the filing of a chargesheet, investigation details in relation with any person, an accused, a suspect or witness insofar as Rujira Banerjee, is concerned.
Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing ED, submitted before a bench led by Justice Hrishikesh Roy that it is virtually a final order. Raju pointed out that guidelines have been issued and ultimate relief has been granted by the high court to Banerjee by the interim order. Raju pressed for a stay on the guidelines issued by the high court.
The bench, also comprising justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, said that the ED’s plea is against an interim order of the high court, and it is not inclined to entertain it.
The bench made it clear to Raju that it would either dismiss the ED’s plea or the agency can withdraw it. Raju agreed to withdraw the plea. In October last year, the high court issued a slew of guidelines and directed the probe agencies and media outlets to strictly adhere to those.
It had said insofar as Banerjee 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 or a witness”.
The high court had said the media, while reporting news items, will ensure that the information disseminated is objective, accurate, and can be corroborated by concrete materials and sources.
The high court had said the media, during the investigation and before the filing of a chargesheet, will not publish photographs of any person linking him or her to the investigation in news items reporting about the probe or any facet of it.
The high court had passed the order on plea by Rujira Banerjee, alleging that central probe agencies and the media are indulging in her character assassination and maligning her family by regularly publishing information regarding the probe being carried out by the agencies, including the ED, regarding alleged financial and other scams.
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