ITV

Tag: GS Singhvi

  • Bollywood comes out in support of the LGBT community

    Bollywood comes out in support of the LGBT community

    MUMBAI: Everyone was in for a shock yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled that there was no constitutional room for change in Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code that holds same gender sexual relationship an offence. The Bollywood fraternity, which in the age of social media has become really vocal, especially when it comes to supporting the social causes, even this time came out to criticise the SC’s ruling. Many people from the industry started tweeting as soon as the news broke.

     

    Section 377 of IPC makes gay sex an offence punishable with up to life imprisonment, said a bench of justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya while overruling an earlier verdict by the High Court that had decriminalised same sex relationship.

     

    Filmmaker Karan Johar tweeted: “#Sec377 is not just a violation of human rights but also makes democracy seem like a mirage in our country….”. This was even retweeted by fashion designer Manish Malhotra.

     

    Actor Adil Hussain wrote: “Ramdev and Judiciary have forgotten the Role of Shikhandi and Brihannala in Mahabharata.Wonder what Values they are talking about!! #Sec377.”

     

    Filmmaker Farhan Akhtar, who has been initiating many movements of late online, was upset with the ruling as well, but expressed himself in just one-liner, “The Supreme Court got it wrong today.”

     

    Actor Richa Chadda, who has been known for her fiery and strong characters, tweeted, “The Supreme Court criminalises love, again. Sad day.”

     

    Kabir Bedi wrote: “It’s a sad day when the Supreme Court of India does not uphold the democratic rights of sexual minorities. #Sec377 #LGBT”. He continued, “The State should stay out of the bedrooms of consenting adults. SC upholding regressive law seems bigoted. #Sec377 #LGBT.”

     

    Even actor Anushka Sharma, didn’t hesitate to present her disappointment. She tweeted, “So disappointed with the SC (supreme court) verdict. Freedom is such a deceptive term. Rights are an ambiguous mystery.”

     

    Singer-actor Shruti Haasan wrote, “11.12.13 a day that reminds us how blatant regressing and oppressing someone has become – plan b move bedroom to another planet and time… (It is) frightening how someone else decides how when and who you should love – basically freedom of choice isn’t legal anymore.”

  • No relief for Times Now in defamation case

    No relief for Times Now in defamation case

    MUMBAI: In what can be termed as a setback to the English news channel Times Now, the Supreme Court has refused to give any relief in the defamation case filed by retired SC judge PB Sawant.

    Earlier, Bombay High Court had ordered Times Global Broadcasting, which runs Times Now, to deposit Rs 200 million in cash along with a bank guarantee of Rs 800 million, before its appeal against a Pune
    trial court ruling that directed the channel to pay Rs 1 billion in damages for defaming Sawant could be heard.

    The channel had erroneously ran Sawant’s photograph during the reportage of provident fund scam in September 2008. Apparently, justice Sawant had nothing to do with the scandal exposed by a
    treasury officer, Ashthana.
       
    Later, justice Sawant sued the channel saying it telecast his photograph for 15 seconds along with the provident fund scam report on 10 September 2008.

    The Pune court ordered the channel to pay the hefty sum as damages, but the channel moved the High Court. However, the HC directed the channel to deposit the amount of damages so that its appeal could be heard.

    Rejecting the company’s appeal against the HC order, a bench headed by Justice GS Singhvi said on Friday there was no error in the HC order. “We find no reason to interfere with the HC’s order,” it said.

    In its defence, the TV channel asserted that it had already apologised to Justice Sawant in its news scroll for five days in 2008 and was, therefore, not liable to pay damages.

    When contacted, Times Television Network MD and CEO Sunil Lulla declined to comment.

  • Supreme Court gives clean chit to sting ops in public interest

    Supreme Court gives clean chit to sting ops in public interest

    MUMBAI: For news channels conducting sting operations, this is a piece of good news. Rejecting a plea for putting curbs on the media and television channels from conducting sting operations, the Supreme Court has given a clean chit to NDTV while upholding the conviction of lawyer RK Anand.

    NDTV had carried out a sting operation in the BMW hit-and-run case that exposed collusion between the prosecution and defence counsel.

    A Bench comprising Justices BN Agrawal, GS Singhvi and Aftab Alam said, “It is not our intent here to lay down any reformist agenda for the media. The norms to regulate the media and to raise its professional standards must come from inside.”

    Rejecting suggestions that channels should carry out sting operations only after getting prior permission from the court, the Bench said,”Such a course would not be an exercise in journalism but in that case the media would be acting as some sort of special vigilance agency for the court. On a little consideration, the idea appears to be quite repugnant both from the points of view of the court and the media. It would be a sad day for the court to employ the media for setting its own house in order; and media too would certainly not relish the role of being the snoopers for the court.”

    A plea that the telecast should be permissible only after submitting the sting material to the court was also rejected. Pre-screening of the material would amount to pre-censorship, the court said.

    The apex court also held that the sting operation was not a media trial but in the larger public interest.