MMS case: Court notice to TV channels

The juvenile court issued show cause notice for identifying the minor boy.

The Juvenile Court in New Delhi issued show cause notice on Friday to two prominent TV channels for allegedly identifying the minor boy, involved in the MMS sex scandal case.

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Juvenile Justice Board Principal Magistrate Santosh Snehi Mann issued notices to the channels after Puneet Mittal, the counsel for the minor boy's school, and the boy's counsel Amit Khanna, produced printouts from the website run by the channels, showing they had "violated the law" in this regard by publishing the name of the school.

The court asked both the channels to reply by January 11.

The school had moved the application through Mittal, alleging that a Delhi newspaper and certain TV channels blatantly contravened the law, which says the identity of the juvenile should not be published.

Meanwhile, the daily, against which a showcause notice was issued for allegedly identifying the juvenile, on Friday told the court that the page on which the name of the boy's school appeared was printed before the court's order on Tuesday. The court order had asked media to desist from giving out details on the identity of the minor boy.

The court said publishing the identity of the juvenile was statutorily banned and hence, the newspaper had committed violation of the law — Section 21 of Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Child) Act — and not just its order.

Though the newspaper apologised verbally, the court asked it to tender a written unconditional apology and file an affidavit in this regard on January 11.