New Delhi,  September 18: Following actress Rakul Preet Singh approached Delhi High Court against media trials, it issued notice to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, National Broadcasters Association. The Delhi HC asked the media to show restraint in its coverage in which they are connecting her with the Rhea Chakraborty drug case.

 

 

In her petition, Rakul Preet had urged the court to ask the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to stall the coverage on her which is related to Rhea's case. The actor, represented by advocate Aman Hingorani, She said, "I got to know during a shoot that Rhea Chakraborty has named me and Sara Ali Khan for taking drugs, and the media started running a campaign against me."

 

She also added that they're showing her morphed pictures and pictures from film sets to paint a narrative, to hound her, and link her to some sort of a drug gang. The media is harassing her, they're coming to her house. And she is seeking a direction to MIB to ensure that media channels are complying with its directions, or take action against erring channels

 

She argued that "Media trials violate my right under Art 21 of the Constitution, the court must interfere. Media should be directed to not to run reports and campaigns for a matter which is sub judice." After hearing her side court asked her, 'Why haven't she made any representation before the authority? At least file a complaint against anyone of such channels', court says.

 

 

On that, she said, "There's no one channel who's doing this. Multiple channels are running a campaign against me on social media." Over that answer, the Judge said, "even if you file a complaint against one channel, we'll impose a time frame on the authority to decide complaint and if action is taken against one channel, it will send a message to others." The actress through her lawyer also submitted that media reports being run in contravention with I&B Ministry guidelines.

 

 

The High Court directs media house to show restraint and abide by the provisions of the Programme Code, and other guidelines both statutory and self-regulatory. The court also asked the authorities to treat Singh's plea as a representation and take a decision on it before the next date of hearing on 15 October.

 

This comes after Rakul's name surfaced in the ongoing anti-narcotics probe in connection with the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. Earlier reports stated that Rhea Chakraborty, Sushant Singh Rajput’s girlfriend, named 25 people in the drugs-related inquiry. The actress has been arrested by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). Rhea Chakraborty is currently being probed by several central agencies, including the CBI, ED, and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).