AajTak moves Delhi High Court to quash I&B ministry order on Programme Code violation

Television news channel AajTak has moved the Delhi High Court seeking quashing of an order dated July 26, 2021 passed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting declaring a text it displayed in one its broadcast as violative of section 6(1)(i) of the Programme Code. The order had also issued a warning, to be careful in future..The development stemmed from a petition filed by actress Rakul Preet Singh in the Delhi High Court, alleging false reportage by AajTak in relation to a drugs case being probed by the Narcotics Control Bureau.The Court in that plea had directed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to consider her petition as a representation, and decide the same as per relevant acts, provisions and guidelines..Subsequently, Rakul Preet moved a complaint before the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA).The NBSA took a decision on her complaint, and by an order dated December 9, 2020 declared that the India Today Group (which AajTak is part of) did not violate their Code of Ethics. In their report with the header "Sushant ki Drug Party me Sara Ali Khan aur Rakul Preet! NCB ka Bada Khulasa" (Sara Ali Khan and Rakul Preet in the Drug Party of Sushant, NCB's big revelation), the NBSA held that it had no connection with the news and was published without context.With regard to other news telecast by AajTak with flashing text reading: "NCB ke Sawalo me phansi Rakul Preet, Drug Mamle me kiya bada khulasa" and "Drug Mandali, Heroine ki Kundali", the NBSA held that it was violative of the self-regulation guidelines, and directed AajTak to remove it. .Aggrieved by the said NBSA order, Rakul Preet submitted a representation to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, stating that the NBSA has let the channel go scot-free.In view of the above, she had sought an independent review of the NBSA's decision..Pursuant to this, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting convened a meeting on March 30, 2021 to discuss the matter, for which no show-cause was issued to AajTak, they state in their plea. Due to some technical difficulty, they could not be part of the meeting and therefore they were asked by the Ministry to submit a written response within a week..The channel submitted two replies stating that the allegations levelled against them by Rakul Preet in her representation to the ministry, are vague and without foundation, and that to take action against them for any violation of programme code, a show-cause notice has to be issued.The petitioner alleged that in complete disregard of their response the Ministry passed an order declaring that the petitioners have violated Section 6(1)(i) [prohibiting any broadcast that criticises, maligns or slanders any individual in person or certain groups, segments of social, public and moral life of the country] of the Programme Code.