A PIL filed in Madras High Court seeks strict guidelines to prevent speculative media reporting after air crashes. Petitioner cites reputational harm to deceased pilots and emotional trauma to families.
Chennai: Today, on July 18, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Madras High Court asking for clear rules to be made to guide how the media reports on aviation accidents.
The PIL, filed by advocate M Pravin from Coimbatore, has requested the court to direct the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to issue proper guidelines or advisories that would stop media from reporting irresponsibly or spreading unverified information right after aviation accidents happen.
The petitioner believes that after aviation accidents, there is often a rush by the media to report the incident, and many times the reports are not based on facts.
According to the plea,
“Baseless allegations and speculative narratives disseminated posthumously amount to reputational defamation of the deceased and cause avoidable emotional trauma to bereaved families.”
The PIL argues that such reporting hurts the dignity and name of those who have died in the accident and causes unnecessary mental pain to their families.
The matter is expected to be heard in court next week.
The plea also points out that in some recent aviation incidents, including the tragic Air India accident that occurred on June 12 in Ahmedabad, the media has blamed pilots too soon, even before the official investigations are complete.
The petitioner said that
“there has been a trend to prematurely blame pilots even before the conclusion of the official investigation.”
He added that this kind of careless reporting can
“harm the professional reputation of pilots, erode public confidence in aviation safety and compromise the integrity of formal investigative processes.”
The petitioner mentioned that he had already sent a detailed representation to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, DGCA, and MeitY on July 14, asking them to take steps to deal with this issue. However, no proper action has been taken so far.
The petition also states that these unregulated media practices are a violation of the fundamental rights under the Constitution of India, including the right to equality under Article 14, the right to freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a), and the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21.
CASE TITLE:
BRAJESH SINGH vs THE STATE OF BIHAR AND ORS W.P.(C) No. 62/2025
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