Court rejects CBI plea seeking stay on airing Indrani Mukerjea documentary

Last week, the CBI, which is the prosecuting agency in the case, approached the court seeking that either the broadcasting of the series on OTT platform, Netflix, be stayed or it be directed to not feature the accused and other people connected to the case. The CBI said that the airing of the documentary, when the trial is ongoing, may influence witnesses, among other grounds.

Special Judge SP Naik Nimbalkar asked the CBI if there was any legal provision under which the court could consider the application.

“Resultantly, there is no provision brought to my notice to entertain the said application and as this court has no inherent powers to pass any such orders for stopping of the broadcasting of the documentary series… the application is rejected,” the court said.

The court also referred to Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. It said that Rule 16 of this notification issued on February 25, 2021, by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, stated provisions for blocking of information in case of emergency. The court said that the rules state that a recommendation can be made to the ministry’s secretary for blocking access to any content.

“Therefore Rule 16 of the said rules have provided a remedy for the exigency of this situation for which the CBI has called this court to invoke its inherent powers, which I fear are not present with this court,” it added.

The court also added that while the conditions of bail granted to Mukerjea by the Supreme Court stated that she shall not influence witnesses or tamper with evidence, the CBI has not shown any breach of the conditions by her.

Special public prosecutor CJ Nandode for the CBI had submitted earlier that a teaser of the documentary, which is to air on February 23, shows Mukerjea, one witness cited by the CBI in its chargesheet and one witness who has deposed in the trial. He said that the series may affect a fair trial.

The CBI plea said that given the Mukerjea’s past association with a media firm, “there is a reasonable likelihood that the material/script of the documentary is provided by her, raising concerns about the potential manipulation of facts with a malicious agenda”. It also said that the claim that the show was going to make “new revelations”, could mislead the public and witnesses.

Lawyer Aabad Ponda, representing Netflix, said that there is no provision which allows a criminal trial court to decide on such a plea as such inherent powers are only with the High Courts and the Supreme Court. The CBI is now likely to approach the Bombay High Court.

The trial in the case is ongoing with the three accused — Mukerjea and her former husbands Peter Mukerjea and Sanjeev Khanna, all out on bail. So far, 89 witnesses have deposed. The accused face charges, including murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence, for the alleged murder of Bora on April 24, 2012. The case had come to light in August 2015 with the arrest of a former driver of the Mukerjeas.