A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed before the Madras High Court seeking directions to the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to issue guidelines/ advisories to govern media coverage of aviation accidents.

The plea filed by advocate M Pravin from Coimbatore has sought comprehensive guidelines to prevent premature or speculative reporting by media after aviation accidents.

According to the plea,

"Baseless allegations and speculative narratives disseminated posthumously amount to reputational defamation of the deceased and cause avoidable emotional trauma to bereaved families."

The matter is likely to be heard next week.

As per the petitioner, in recent aviation incidents including the tragic Air India accident of June 12 at Ahmedabad, there has been a trend to prematurely blame pilots even before the conclusion of the official investigation.

Such unverified reporting harms the professional reputation of pilots, erodes public confidence in aviation safety and compromises the integrity of formal investigative processes, the plea states.

Despite sending a detailed representation on July 14 to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, DGCA, and MeitY, no concrete action has been taken with regard to the same, the petitioner has contended.

Unregulated media practices violate fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19(1)(a), and 21, the petition states.