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- By Parinda News Bureau, February 28, 2006, 11:39 IST
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today restrained media from publishing and broadcasting contents of all illegally tapped telephone conversations, including that of Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, till guidelines are framed by it.
"Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, we direct that electronic and print media would not publish/display the unauthorised/illegal telephone tapping of party person till the matter is further heard and guidelines issued by this court," a three-judge Bench said.
The order was delivered as both Solicitor General G E Vahanvaji and Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanian agreed with the suggestion of Amar Singh's counsel, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, that in extraordinary situations like this the electronic and print media be barred from publishing or broadcasting the illegally tapped conversation.
During the hearing, the court expressed anguish over Delhi [Government's failure to secure response of several private telecom service providers on the issues concerning tapping.
"By now the authority should have been ready with all details. We want particulars from every service provider on tapping. We need their answer in 'Yes' or 'No' as to whether they were involved in tapping any telephone," the Bench said.
However, it allowed both Delhi Government and the Centre to file detailed affidavits on number of telephones tapped.
The Bench made it clear it wanted to know in how many cases \ permissions were taken within the stipulated 15 days after the! telephones were tapped and in how many cases no such permission was taken at all.
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