JUDGMENT :

BECHU KURIAN THOMAS, J.

1. Petitioners are persons in control of a Television News Broadcasting Channel by name “Reporter TV.” By the impugned order, they have been directed to produce news items, including discussions and interviews broadcasted during the period from 25.12.2021 to 21.10.2022 in connection with the trial of a pending case. The direction was issued pursuant to a petition seeking reference to this Court under section 15(2) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 (for short ‘the Act’) for initiating contempt proceedings against the petitioners for broadcasting details of the trial, repeatedly.

2. The second respondent is the 8th accused in S.C. No. 118 of 2018 on the files of the Sessions Court, Ernakulam and is facing an indictment for the offence including rape in the said case. The prosecution alleges that on 17.02.2017, a movie actress in the Malayalam film industry was raped by the first accused. Subsequently, on 10.07.2017, the second respondent, who himself is a movie actor, was arrayed as the 8th accused. The trial of the said case is going on, and a large number of witnesses have already been examined. In the meantime, despite section 327(2) of the Code o