New Delhi: The Supreme Court Thursday took strong exception to the absence of the Press Council of India, Editors Guild and the Indian Broadcasting Federation after they were asked to appear and assist the court over the alleged non-adherence of statutory provisions in broadcasting news related to rape and sexual abuses.
The apex court also sought to know from the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA), which was the only media body to comply with its order to appear before it, about the action taken by them against media persons who have violated the statutory requirement under relevant laws while reporting incidents of rape and sexual abuse, reports PTI.
On September 20, the top court issued notices to four media bodies to assist it in the matter which deals with alleged non-compliance of statutory provisions about disclosure of identity of victims of rape and sexual abuses by the media. A bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur, S Abdul Nazeer and Deepak Gupta observed it had sought assistance of these bodies in the matter and notices issued against them have already been served. “Only NBSA has put in appearance. There is no appearance at all from Press Council of India, Editors Guild and Indian Broadcasting Federation. It appears that they are not inclined to assist us otherwise they must have put in appearance at least,” the bench said.