Senior journalists ask Patna High Court to revoke order restraining media from reporting on Muzaffarpur shelter home case

Days after the Patna High Court issued an order restraining the media from reporting the investigation into the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case, senior journalists of Patna on Sunday urged the High court to "reconsider and revoke" its August 23 order.

A statement signed by senior journalists read that it was because of the reports of the media fraternity that the abuse of inmates of the shelter home had come to the notice of all. The statement signed by both the print and electronic media said that even the Supreme Court had taken cognisance of it.

In the statement, the scribes urged the court "to reconsider and revoke its decision to uphold the principles of free media in a democracy and allow media to report on the ongoing investigation related with the Muzaffarpur shelter home case".

The Patna High Court was monitoring the probe into the sordid episode at the government-funded short stay home for girls at Muzaffarpur on the request of the Bihar government.

A division bench of Chief Justice Mukesh R Shah and Justice Ravi Ranjan on August 23 had expressed displeasure over leak of details of the investigation and asked the media to refrain from publishing the same as it could be detrimental to the probe.

The sexual assault of 34 girls over a period of time in the government-funded Muzaffarpur shelter home came to light after a social audit was conducted by the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS).