The Delhi high court yesterday (December 11) directed the Centre to file a status report within three weeks on Rakul Preet Singh’s petition seeking action against TV news channels for publishing slanderous material against her, linking her to drugs in the aftermath of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death on June 14. Justice Navin Chawla gave Rakul two weeks’ time thereafter to file her reply to the Centre’s status report.
Rakul’s advocate told the court that as per the Cable Television Network Rules and the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), it was ultimately upon the I & B ministry to take action against the news channels, but it had passed on the buck to the NBSA. He sought to know from the ministry as to what action it had taken in Rakul’s case.
On December 9, the NBSA issued a warning to Zee News, Zee 24 Taas, Zee Hindustani, Times Now, India Today, Aaj Tak, India TV, News National and ABP News, finding them to be at fault for airing vilifying reports against Rakul in stories related to Bollywood and the drug mafia. The three Zee channels have also been asked to air a public apology. Rakul’s advocate yesterday sought and was granted leave of the court to implead other news channels as well in the matter.