Dileep case: Kerala HC issues three-week gag on Reporter TV from reporting on actor's brother-in-law

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday issued an interim gag order on Reporter TV from publishing or broadcasting anything on Suraj, the brother-in-law of actor Dileep, while reporting on the cases involving the latter, LiveLaw reported today.

Dileep is accused in a 2017 case of sexual assault of a woman actor. He and Suraj are also accused in a subsequent case of allegedly conspiring to murder police officers who investigated the sexual assault case.

Suraj had moved the high court claiming Reporter TV was "subjecting him to a media trial and resorting to sensationalism and publication of fabricated allegations" against him and his associates, the report said. He also alleged the police was "leaking" material to the media.

The Kerala High Court had scrutinised samples of reports from Reporter TV and said "considering the nature of the contents of the publication/telecast...and that those materials had not been established in any legal proceedings, there cannot be any justification for permitting such publications."

According to LiveLaw, Justice Mohammad Nias CP said he had "no hesitation" to pass the order, and said Reporter TV had a propensity to "publish/telecast news about the case despite repeated orders passed on earlier occasions" by a sessions court and the high court.

Dileep had twice obtained orders, in 2017 and 2020, restraining the media from reporting on court proceedings in his case. In February this year, the state government said five cases had been registered for violating a sessions court's gag on the media from reporting on proceedings.