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The Karnataka High Court issued notices on Wednesday to 70 media platforms, as well as the central and state government, directing them to strictly follow the programme code as laid out in
the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act. The direction was issued while the court was hearing a petition filed by Arma V Hiremath, a lawyer and BJP member, the _Hindu _reported. The
high court's move came after Karnataka minister Ramesh Jarkiholi resigned on March 3 after TV channels aired images and video clips of a "sex CD" that allegedly featured him
and an unidentified young woman. Jarkiholi, who was the minister for major and medium irrigation, allegedly sexually harassed the woman in return for a government job. Hiremath had sought
direction to safeguard the right to privacy of individuals and to ensure that media outlets don't invade the privacy of individuals by breaching the law. The _Hindu_ reported that
Hiremath "cited media reports about claims made by social activist Dinesh Kallahalli that he had many CDs containing explicit contents of other persons belonging to the BJP'."
_LiveLaw_ _reported_ that Hiremath claimed that he was espousing his private right as he “apprehends that the respondent-media platforms may get in hold of explicit material of the
petitioner by unknown sources, broadcast or publish the same in their platforms thereby infringe upon his right to privacy that is protected under Article 21 of the Constitution.” The court
said, “By an ad-interim direction, it is directed that any broadcast in the Cable Television Network shall be strictly in conformity in terms of the programme code as defined under Section 5
of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, read with Rule 6 of the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994.” The 70 media platforms include TV channels, news websites, news
agencies, and social networking and micro-blogging sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Hiremath also sought directions against the police commissioner to take action against media
platforms who violated the programme code. On March 9, the Bengaluru police commissioner had issued an order saying that media houses that violated the code would be liable for prosecution,
_LiveLaw_ reported.