Court stops Chautala episode telecast

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Friday restrained Sony TV channel from broadcasting an episode of 'Crime Patrol' programme based on a teachers' recruitment scam involving former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and 54 others.

Justice M.L. Mehta, in an interim direction, asked the entertainment channel not to telecast the episode, scheduled to be aired on Saturday.

The court's order came on a plea of Chautala, his then officer on special duty Vidya Dhar and political advisor Sher Singh Badshami.

Advocate Rajiv Nayyar, appearing for Chautala, asked the court to direct the channel to postpone the telecast till the pending petition seeking suspension of their sentence is decided by another bench, as the programme could adversely impact the appeal against the trial court verdict.

He said that Chautala has also sought suspension of his 10 year imprisonment and till it is decided, the programme's telecast should be deferred.

The trial court last month sentenced Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and eight others to 10 years in jail while one convict was sentenced to five years and 45 others were handed out four-year jail terms after convicting them of illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained teachers in Haryana in 2000.