Bollywood’s civil suit is aimed at entire media industry and not just select news channels

On October 12, Bollywood’s 34 leading production houses and associations had filed a civil suit before Delhi High Court against Republic TV, Mr. Arnab Goswami and Mr. Pradeep Bhandari of Republic TV, Times Now, Mr. Rahul Shivshankar and Ms. Navika Kumar of Times Now, and unknown defendant for irresponsible reporting.

A new statement has been released by these production houses clarifying that their lawsuit is not only against these news channels, in fact, but it is also aimed at the entire media industry.

A part of the Plaintiffs’ recent statement reads, “Our clients, the trade associations and production houses of the Hindi film industry which have filed a suit before the Hon’ble Delhi High Court on October 12, 2020 against certain named television news channels and digital media platforms seeking injunctive relief as stated therein clarify that the suit is not just seeking orders against the channels and platforms named in the suit, but also against unnamed defendants referred to as John Doe/ Ashok Kumar.”

Further clarifying about the aim of the civil suit, it says, “This means that any orders passed in favour of the plaintiffs would apply to all television channels and content on digital platforms which may be found violating such orders. Our clients have also come across some others publishing such content and will be adding certain specific additional defendants to the suit. Our clients also wish to clarify that as specifically stated in the plaint they are not seeking a blanket gag order against media reportage of investigation of cases, as our clients find is being erroneously reported.”

The civil suit was filed by the producers and filmmakers in the wake of the news channels using highly derogatory words and expressions for Bollywood such as “dirt”, “filth”, “scum”, “druggies” and expressions such as “it is Bollywood where the dirt needs to be cleaned”, “all the perfumes of Arabia cannot take away the stench and the stink of this filth and scum of the underbelly of Bollywood”, “This is the dirtiest industry in the country”, and “cocaine and LSD drenched Bollywood”.

The plaintiffs had previously said that they are not seeking a blanket gag order against media reportage of the investigation in the cases relating to the death of Mr. Sushant Singh Rajput or of FIRs No. 15 and 16/2020 filed by the NCB, Mumbai. They are merely seeking a perpetual and mandatory injunction against the Defendants from carrying on reportage and publication of material that violates applicable laws.

You can check out the list of the leading production houses and associations who have filed this civil suit by clicking on the following story.

Also Read: Bollywood’s leading production houses & associations file a civil suit against certain media houses for irresponsible reporting

Pooja Sharma

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