Delhi HC agrees to hear plea to restrain 'media trial' of wrestler Sushil Kumar on Friday

The plea has been moved by a law student alleging that Kumar's career and reputation has been damaged by the media's reporting

The Delhi High Court has agreed to hear a plea to restrain media from sensationalising a case related to the murder of a 23-year-old wrestler in which Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar has been arrested along four with others.

The plea filed by Kamla Devi, mother of Kumar and a law student Shrikant Prasad was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh.

The matter will be taken up on Friday, May 28.

It was contended in the petition that Kumar’s career and reputation were tarnished by sensational reporting against him in connection with the Chhatrasal Stadium brawl that led to the death of a wrestler.

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According to the plea, excessive publicity of the suspect before the trial in a court of law, either incriminates a fair trial or results in characterising the suspect as guilty. This amounts to undue interference with the "administration of justice”, it claimed.

The media has now transformed itself into “janta adalats” or “public courts” and has started intervening in the cour's proceedings. The vital gap between a convict and an accused is completely overlooked by the media which disregards the cardinal principles of ‘presumption of innocence until proven guilty’ and ‘guilt beyond reasonable doubt’ in its reporting, it claimed.

The Delhi police claimed Kumar and his associates allegedly assaulted fellow wrestler Sagar Dhankar and his two friends Sonu and Amit Kumar at the stadium on May 4 night over a dispute over money. Dhankar succumbed to his injuries later.

The Delhi Police have filed an FIR under Sections 302 (murder), 308 (culpable homicide), 365 (kidnapping), 325 (causing grievous hurt), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

They have also included Sections 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of IPC and various sections under the Arms Act.