The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed a Patna High Court order enforcing a blanket ban on reporting the Muzaffarpur shelter home case. At the same time, the apex court directed the media outlets to be extremely careful and diligent while reporting the case in the future and observed there can’t be blanket ban on reporting.

Emphasizing that “media cannot broadcast or disseminate images of victims of sexual offences even in morphed or blurred form”, the court categorically said that media should not sensationalize such events.

The apex court was hearing a plea that challenged a Patna High Court order to restrict the media from reporting on the investigation into the Muzaffarpur shelter home case, wherein several women inmates were allegedly raped.

—India Legal Bureau