New Delhi: Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, currently lodged in a jail in Gujarat, has once again lost a petition seeking to restrain the media from reporting on sexual assault allegations against him.
The 75-year-old had moved the court to stop two TV channels from airing allegedly slanderous reports about him saying they were projecting him as a "dracula who drank children's blood."
Rejecting his plea, a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said it cannot ask the media not to report the information they get from police or other sources.
"If some inmate says something or an investigation officer talks to the media, how can we stop them? Media is reporting what they say. We can't stop media. You have other remedies," Justice Sathasivam told Asaram's counsel.
Asaram moved the court against the two channels after the Supreme Court on October 21 declined to restrain both print and visual media from carrying news reports about his case.
The spiritual guru was arrested in August this year on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl at his ashram in Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Later, two sisters who stayed at his ashrams in Gujarat accused him and his son, Narayan Sai, of rape. Asaram has denied all charges against him.
The 75-year-old had moved the court to stop two TV channels from airing allegedly slanderous reports about him saying they were projecting him as a "dracula who drank children's blood."
Rejecting his plea, a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said it cannot ask the media not to report the information they get from police or other sources.
"If some inmate says something or an investigation officer talks to the media, how can we stop them? Media is reporting what they say. We can't stop media. You have other remedies," Justice Sathasivam told Asaram's counsel.
Asaram moved the court against the two channels after the Supreme Court on October 21 declined to restrain both print and visual media from carrying news reports about his case.
The spiritual guru was arrested in August this year on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl at his ashram in Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Later, two sisters who stayed at his ashrams in Gujarat accused him and his son, Narayan Sai, of rape. Asaram has denied all charges against him.
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