After Tollywood actor Rakul Preet Singh approached it with a plea asking to put a stop on media reports linking her to the Rhea Chakraborty drug usage case, the Delhi High Court on Thursday sought the Union government's response. The actor said that there was a media trial against her, at a time when there was no clarity who Rhea has named in her statement and that she was being slandered. Justice Navin Chawla issued a notice to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Prasar Bharti and the Press Council of India, seeking their stand on the actor's petition.
The court also asked the authorities to treat her plea as a representation and take a decision on it before the next date of hearing on October 15.
It also expressed hope that "media houses would show restraint in their reports and would abide by the cable TV regulations, program code and various guidelines, statutory and self regulatory, while making any reports with regard to the petitioner" (Rakul Preet).
The actor, represented by advocate Aman Hingorani, has claimed in her plea that Rhea Chakraborty had already retracted the statement in which she was allegedly named and yet the media reports were connecting her to the case. There have been contradictory reports in the media regarding Rakul Preet being mentioned by Rhea Chakraborty. While some reports claimed that Rhea Chakroborty had revealed a list of people who used drugs, other reports denied the same. Contradictory quotes from the Narcotics Control Bureau too have been reported by the media. A few channels have done 'investigations' trying to track down Rakul Preet.
Ealier, Telangana BJP has sought an investigation and asked the NCB to look at Tollywood on Telugu movies and usage of drugs.
Rakul Preet Singh is a popular actor in Tollywood and has acted in several films. She shot to fame after Venkatadri Express, which released in the year 2013 and later on went on to become one of the top heroines in the industry. Some of her movies include, Manmadhudu 2, Sarrainodu, Bruce Lee : The Fighter, Dhruva, Nannaku Prematho, Spyder and others.
(With PTI inputs)