The court further directed the Punjab DGP to get the URLs/weblinks/videos pertaining to both the interviews removed/blocked/disabled/restricted from social media platforms like YouTube forthwith.
"Ensure that the Press channel, where the said interview is hosted, removes the URLs/weblinks/videos from all its news /social media platforms with immediate effect. In case the said interviews are discovered by police authorities to be existing on any social media platform in future, the same be get removed with immediate effect," it said.
The DGP was also asked to direct the search engines Google Search, Yahoo Search, Microsoft Bing to globally de-index & dereference from their search results the interviews & their related contents.In the order, the court stated that it went through the contents of the interviews which indicate that it glorifies crime & criminals."The interviewee (Bishnoi) is involved in 71 cases in the State of Punjab & had been convicted in four cases which include offences under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, 302 IPC, extortions, etc."The interviewee is justifying target killings & his criminal activities. He has reiterated & justified the threat to a film actor. As in a large number of cases wherein he is involved, trials are underway & attempt to projecting his persona as larger than life could influence the witnesses," said the court.It further said these interviews are stated to have garnered over 12 million views."It would have an adverse impact upon youngsters with impressionable minds. Punjab is a border State & any deterioration in law & order or increase in crime could affect the national security as at times, anti-national elements take advantage of the situation & often use criminals for their nefarious designs."They often get help from across the border. There is a thin line between extortion, target killings & anti-?national activities. The conduct of the interviews is an apparent jail security breach & violation of the Prisons Act. The interviews have been telecast for the last nine months & are available on public domain," it added.While directing the registration of the FIR, the court also said, "Those, who facilitated the interviews need to be brought to book at the earliest." Referring to the SIT report on Bishnoi, the court stated it is apparent that the committee has not reached a definite conclusion that the interviews were not being conducted in a jail or police custody within Punjab.
"We find it strange that the Committee took over eight months to arrive at an inconclusive finding," it said.
Nonetheless, the Committee has made a recommendation for registration of two FIRs with regard to two interviews which were conducted in violation of the law.The bench has also asked the additional director general (prisons) to file a status report on the timelines for installation of jammers, CCTV cameras, nylon mesh, X-ray body scanners for augmentation of jail security.The court has fixed January 10 as the next date of hearing in the case.
TAGS: Court Orders Removal Crime-Glorifying Interviews Social Media Punjab Court DGP Erase URLs Interviews Justifying Crimes Interviews Glorifying Crime
