On Sunday, actor Sushant Singh Rajput passed away. The Mumbai Police had said that investigations were underway, even as they added that the actor appeared to have committed suicide. Rajput's death has received widespread news coverage, even as hundreds took to social media platforms to condole his demise.
Against this backdrop, showing a remarkable lack of sensitivity, news channel Aaj Tak ended up at Rajput's family home in Patna. Not only this, but the channel and its journalists proceeded to make a series of rather unfortunate comments about the actor's death.
From a channel ticker (graphics or text on the screen that presents a headline, additional information or another unrelated news item) that compared his death to a "hit wicket" during a cricket match to wondering why a successful actor would commit suicide -- the list is rather unfortunate.
In a now widely shared and criticised video clip, the Aaj Tak anchor can be heard stating that Rajput's father "was not in a state to talk". The anchor then goes on to wonder if his sisters are available to talk and would be able to "shed light on why Sushant took such a step". The anchor also weighs in on whether suicide was a reasonable move, saying that it was a "wrong step".
Now, a day later, an advocate has served a defamation notice to the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of the India Today Group over the insensitive reportage of the channel.
As per a Live Law report, Delhi High Court advocate Mohit Singh has served a legal notice which takes issues with the channel's comments. Speaking about the "hit wicket" comment the publication quoted the notice to say that "Aaj Tak has insinuated that the death of Mr. Sushant by suicide, is equivalent to that of a batsman in cricket who breaks his own wicket with his bat or any part of his person while playing the ball or setting off for a run".
"The words used, carry the imputation that the act of committing suicide is an act of cowardice and is one to be looked down upon," the notice adds.
The notice has reportedly sought a retraction of the offensive statements and an unconditional apology from the channel.
Now, to be fair, this is not the first time Aaj Taj has courted controversy over their news coverage. Remember the time they had an anchor speaking in front of an image of a bathtub after Sridevi's death? There had even been a framed photo of the actor looking down at the scene.
More recently, it had faced flak for attempting to "recreate" the events leading up to the Hyderabad rape and murder.
