Zee News and OpIndia violated programme code: Jamia accused in Delhi riots tells Delhi High Court

The lawyer for a Jamia Millia Islamia student, who was arrested by the Delhi police in connection with February's Delhi riots, has told the Delhi High Court that Zee News and OpIndia violated the programme code by making public the student's purported "confession" to organising and inciting the communal violence.

According to LiveLaw, advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, who was appearing for student Asif Iqbal Tanha, said on November 26 that it was "apparent that a cognizable offence has been committed and therefore, it is also necessary that appropriate criminal proceedings be instituted".

Tanha had been booked by the police under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. He subsequently filed a petition "seeking a direction to take down sensitive information connected to the investigations, allegedly leaked by police to media channels, which had published information on the basis of his purported disclosure statement".

Last month, the court had asked Zee News to disclose its source for a story on Tanha's alleged confession. The court also told the news channel that it wasn't a "prosecution agency".

In September, Newslaundry reported on how Zee News has been a megaphone for the Delhi police's contentious leaks on the February carnage. Seven "exclusive" reports were published in one month, all singularly attributed to the Delhi police, or without any source at all.

This included an August 18 report on how Tanha "confessed" to holding a chakka jam in Delhi, on Umar Khalid's purported instruction, during US president Donald Trump's visit. The same report also claimed that Tanha confessed “to instigating people to start riots over CAA in Delhi”.