Karnataka High Court notice in Ranya Rao's mother plea for guidelines on reporting against female accused

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued notice in a plea filed by the mother of actress Ranya Rao, who is implicated in a gold smuggling case, urging the Central government to frame guidelines to curb defamatory reporting against female accused by the media..A Bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna also directed media houses to stop publishing defamatory content against Ranya and her family despite being ordered to do so by the civil court."The Union of India has already directed the media houses to encourage restraint when Court orders such. The respondents in the case at hand are the media houses. In the light of the direction of the Government of India to all the media houses, print and electronic, they are required to comply with the directions of the Courts that have granted injunctory orders against the print and media houses," the order states..The Court issued the order while hearing separate pleas filed by Ranya Rao's parents, both seeking a restraining order against all media houses.The plea by Ranya's mother sought guidelines to curb media speculation against female accused. Her counsel argued that despite a civil court order restraining media from publishing content affecting Ranya's dignity under Article 21, media houses continue to violate the directive. In light of this, the Court directed the Union of India to take appropriate action.During the hearing, the lawyer submitted a notice issued by the Government of India to all media houses, urging restraint when courts pass such orders. This was in compliance with a directive from the Delhi High Court in an earlier case, instructing the Union of India to regulate media reporting appropriately. While the investigation details have not been disclosed by the media, the counsel argued that the accused's image is being unfairly portrayed. Thereby, identical orders were sought in the present case..Ranya Rao's stepfather also approached the Court seeking directions to restrain the media from publishing defamatory content. He alleged that after the civil court declined to grant an injunction, the matter was challenged before the High Court, where a coordinate bench granted an injunction order.It was argued that despite this order, print and electronic media have allegedly continued to telecast and publish information..Senior Advocate Prabhuling Navadgi along with Advocate Keerthi Krishna Reddy appeared for Ranya's stepfather. Advocate Mahesh YL appeared for Ranya's mother..Deputy Solicitor General Shanti Bhushan appeared for the Central government.Advocate Madhu N Rao appeared for DRI..Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials had arrested Ranya at Bengaluru International Airport on March 3 and seized 14.2 kg of gold worth ₹12.86 crore from her. It was alleged that Ranya used to carry the gold in her belt and jacket to evade inspection by customs officials. It is said that Ranya, the adopted daughter of a DGP-rank officer in the State, would use the VIP route in the airport to evade inspection.After a search was conducted at Ranya's house, DRI officials seized jewellery worth ₹2.06 crore and cash worth ₹2.67 crore, taking the total seizure in the case to ₹17.29 crore.Ranya, who was in DRI custody for three days, was sent to fifteen days of judicial custody by the court on March 7.The High Court had recently ordered against taking any hasty action against Ranya's husband Jatin Vijayakumar Hukkeri.It also restrained 39 media houses from telecasting, publishing or disseminating any defamatory statements against Ranya's stepfather..[Read order]