Former director generals of police (DGP) and former commissioner of police (CP) of Mumbai on Wednesday moved the Bombay High Court on Wednesday against the unfair, malicious and false media campaign against the Mumbai Police in the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

Former DGP and CP M.N. Singh and former DGPs Parvinder Parsicha, D. Shivanandan, Sanjeev Dayal, Satish Mathur and K. Subramanyam and additional DGP Krishipal Raghuvanshi, along with former CP Dhananjay Jadhav filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the court.

It states, “On June 18, Mumbai Police registered an accidental death report and commenced inquiry under Section 174 (police to inquire and report on suicide, etc.) of the Code of Criminal Procedure to ascertain the cause of death and also to determine whether the death was the result of some criminal act committed by some other persons.”

The 327-page PIL says, “There has been constant irresponsible adverse media reporting on the investigation which was done by Mumbai Police. The Press Council of India also tweeted that the coverage of the alleged suicide of the deceased actor by many outlets are in contravention of the norms of journalistic conduct framed by the Press Council and has issued advisory reminding media to follow the norms of journalistic conduct.”

It said a section of television channels have been trying to influence the course of investigation through biased reporting and false propaganda, and this has created an air of suspicion in the minds of the general public as to the facts of the case under investigation and also about the Mumbai Police. “The anchors have been virtually running a vituperative 24/7 campaign against Mumbai Police and its CP, the DCP of the zone and other officers by attacking them by name in the most unbecoming manner,” the PIL points out.

The plea seeks a direction from the court to authorities to issue guidelines to be followed by all media houses — print, television, radio and internet — to refrain from publishing any comments which may jeopardise the reputation of the police and may cause the public to lose faith in the system and in police administration or hinder the cause of administration of justice.

The PIL also urges the court to issue direction to media houses to refrain from conducting a ‘media trial’ of any case which may cause serious prejudice to the proper functioning of the investigating agency.