India's Supreme Court has ordered the media not to print or broadcast contents of any tapped telephone conversations, reports said Tuesday. The court passed the order in connection with a case involving a leading politician who says his phone was tapped, the Indian media reported.
Amar Singh, general secretary of the regional Samajwadi Party, had filed a plea in the court, alleging Delhi police had tapped his phone.
"We direct the electronic and print media not to publish or display the unauthorised and illegal telephone tape versions of anyone till the matter is further heard," the court ordered Monday.
Earlier this month, leading television networks were sent a compact disc which contained recorded phone conversations allegedly between Singh and a few top industrialists and film stars.
The contents of the CD were never aired but in it, a businessman reportedly was asked to pay Singh a bribe of 250 million rupees (5.6 million dollars) for permission to set up business in Singh's home state.
Singh, whose party is in power in Uttar Pradesh and who is close to the chief minister of the state, denies the charges.
Last year, Bollywood actor Salman Khan was caught in a controversy after a newspaper published transcripts of an explosive taped conversation allegedly between him and his then-girlfriend, actress and beauty queen Aishwarya Rai.
In the dialogue, said to have been recorded by police, Khan supposedly threatened Rai with underworld retribution if she did not perform in a show.
The police later cleared the superstar of the charges, saying it was not his voice on the tape.
India's television networks have in recent years broadcast a string of secretly videotaped conversations involving top politicians seen stuffing wads of money in their pockets. The scandals have resulted in several sackings.
The Supreme Court ruling, however, only applies to tapped telephone conversations, and not to those secretly filmed, the media reports said.
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