ORDER :

Conglomeration of these cases arises out of crimes registered against the petitioners on account of sting operations conducted by the media. Since all these petitions bring up a common challenge to sting operations so conducted and consequently the offences so alleged, they are taken up together and considered by this order. The only variation would be the incidence and registration of crime, or the crime as the case would be. But, one stream that runs through the entire challenge is veracity of sting operation. In the light of the incidents being different, I deem it appropriate to narrate brief facts in each case.

Criminal Petitions Nos. 7430 of 2022, 7431 of 2022, 7473 of 2022 and Writ Petition No.15582 of 2022:

2. The 2nd respondent is the complainant in all these cases. A complaint comes to be registered on 03-08-2022 before the then Anti-Corruption Bureau. The allegation in the complaint is that a Television channel by name Power TV conducts a sting operation which consists of 8 Traffic Police Inspectors and 3 Assistant Commissioners of Police named in the complaint who are said to have indulged in taking money from public for letting Tipper Lorries on alternative routes