Arrested godman Sarathi Baba alias Santosh Roul has approached the Orissa High Court with a prayer to direct both social media and traditional media, including visual ones such as TV and cinema, to refrain from publishing, airing or displaying any malicious news and cartoons about him till the end of the trials in the cases he has been entangled with.
Arraying the State Home Secretary, DGP, IG (Crime Branch), Press Council of India and the Press Information Bureau as respondents to the petition, Roul has alleged that a particular media house of the State is engaged in airing and circulating defamatory materials against him in various mediums with an ulterior motive.
“The concerned media house is engaged in planting false and imaginary stories about my client in its TV channel and newspaper, which are derogatory and libellous violating sections 12 and 14 of Indian Press Act,” said Roul’s advocate Manas Chand. He also pointed out that audio-video materials, including a cinema depicting my client in poor light, are also in circulation in the State.
The High Court however, has not taken cognisance of the petition yet, informed Chand saying that Roul and his son Satyam are now lodged in jail ever since they were arrested in August last.