Responding to a bunch of petitions seeking reliefs related to the case of the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput and seeking a directive to restrain the press in its coverage of the case, the  Bombay High Court today pleaded the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as a party.;

The court made an observation expressing surprise that the government had no control over the electronic media and opined questioning why television news should not be regulated by the state.

The bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni heard a bunch of petitions that had sought various reliefs related to the case of the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput, including a direction to restrain the press in its coverage of the case.

Apart from impleading the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as a party in the matters, the bench directed the ministry to file a reply in court indicating the extent of state control that is exercised in respect of telecasting news, particularly such news that "may have serious ramifications".

The bench also made the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the central agencies that are currently probing issues related to the case, as parties.

More, after one of the petitioners alleged that the agencies were "leaking" probe related information to the press and the public, the bench refused to implead actor Rhea Chakraborty as a respondent in the case.