The Supreme Court of India lifted the ban on the Reporting of Bihar Shelter home case urging media not to sectionalize it and exercise restraint in reporting such cases.
Earlier on 23rd August, the Patna High court had banned reporting on the abuse cases of the shelter home. The High Court asked the media to refrain from publishing the news as it will only jeopardize the investigation process and expressed its displeasure over the leak of sensitive details of the investigation.
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A reporter had challenged the blanket ban by the top court. She said that media actually helped the shelter home scandal to be exposed. But Justice Madan B Lokur retorted that when the case is going on media cannot deliver its judgment.
A bench of Deepak Gupta and Madan B Lokur said that as there is no mechanism of enforcement of guidelines regarding misreporting. The assistance of Press Council of India, Editors Guild, and National Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) are sought to prevent misreporting.
The Journalist in her plea said that there was no material before the high court to claim that the media reporting could obstruct the ongoing investigation in the case. Rather it was the proactive role of the media that shocking incident came to light and blanket ban on the reporting of the case was arbitrary.
The notorious incident came to light when Mumbai-based Tata Institute Of Social Sciences (TISS) reported in its report that more than 30 girls were raped at the shelter home run by muscle man Brajesh Thakur and got the state-fund.
Following which an FIR was filed leading to arrest of Brajesh Thakur and ten other people. The NGO was blacklisted and girls were shifted to other shelter homes in Patna and Madhubani.
Bowing to nationwide protest and outcry Nitish Kumar Government handed over the case to be probed by CBI.
