Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a public interest litigation seeking directions to restrict channels from spreading negativity by reporting the number of deaths due to Covid-19. The High Court bench observed that informing the public about the numbers of deaths due to Covid-19 is not negative news.
The division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jasmeet termed the petition “Publicity Interest Litigation” and warned the petitioner about imposing a cost on him.
The court noted that the petitioner has not mentioned any violation in the plea and as long as the news is correct, there can be no restriction.
The court further stated, “Whenever news about death is published, it cannot be said that it is negative news. It is a wrong notion in the mind of the petitioner.”
The petition was moved by Lalit Valecha who had alleged that ever since the onset of the second wave of Covid-19 in the first week of April 2021, various television channels by way of news articles and various other programmes have been airing very negative images/visuals/stories in the most irresponsible manner.
