SC declines to pass order on Asaram's plea

Asks media to abide by guidelines for sub judice cases

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to pass any order on spiritual guru Asaram Bapu's plea seeking to restrain media from carrying on speculative reporting in the allegation of rape against him but reiterated its 2012 guidelines on media reporting of sub judice cases.

Declining to pass any order on Asaram's plea, the apex court bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that "for present we are not going to say anything but reiterate the media guidelines. We hope media to follow those direction. If you still fell aggrieved then you can come (to us)". 

As the court reiterated its direction to media on reporting sub judice matter, senior counsel Vikas Singh told the court: "In spite of your guidelines, media is not showing any caution."

Vikas Singh, who appeared for Asaram, told the court that he had "no difficulty in correct reporting by media" but was aggrieved with mutilated media reports.