Delhi High Court Upholds Order Directing TV Today To Pay ₹5 Lakh Compensation For Breach Of Child Sexual Abuse Victim's Privacy

A division bench comprising Justice C Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla dismissed the appeal filed by TV Today against the Single Judge ruling of February 2013 which had awarded compensation to the victim and her mother.

The case arose after a complaint was lodged by the minor girl alleging sexual abuse by her father.

Despite the victim's mother refusing to interact with the media, TV Today aired a report on its Aaj Tak channel which allegedly disclosed the father's identity, designation, workplace details, visuals of the residential locality and other particulars that could lead to identification of the child victim.

The Bench noted that the case set up by the minor's mother in her writ petition was of serious and irreparable injury of the right to privacy and confidentiality of the minor, as a consequence of the telecast aired by the appellant in its Aaj Tak program.

On this, the Court said that if the allegation were to be accepted, it would clearly amount to “improper and illegal discharge” by TV Today of its public function of disseminating news.

“The remedy sought in the writ petition was, therefore, clearly intended to ensure proper discharge, by the appellant, of the public duty which vested in it, while performing the public function of conveying news to the nation,” the Court said.

Holding the mother's plea as maintainable, the Court endorsed the single judge's view that the act of TV Today, in telecasting the details of the visit at the residence of the mother as well as the details of the location of the residence, the name, official designation and the official address of her father, and the voice of the minor, was “display of prurient or morbid curiosity”.

“Apart from the fact that such an attitude is not expected from what purports to be a TV channel of some distinction, it also displays a woeful lack of understanding of fundamental rights, and what they mean and entail,” the Bench said.

Further, it observed that since the mother had specifically declined to interact with the news channel's team, the only course of action open to TV Today was to withdraw and give up the idea of telecasting any mention of what had transpired with the minor.

However, the Court said that the news channel, with complete indifference to the wishes of the minor, went ahead and telecast its program.

“We, therefore, uphold the view of the learned Single Judge that, by telecasting the injurious program on its Aaj Tak channel, the appellant blatantly violated the right to privacy of X,” the Court said.

Underscoring that the right to privacy exists, the Bench added that even if it is to be presumed that, at any stage, the mother had, in any proceeding, disclosed the identity of the minor, that would not provide a carte blanche to the rest of the world to go ahead and do likewise.

“The extent to which a citizen desires to enforce her, or his, right to privacy, is the exclusive prerogative of the citizen, and the citizen's decision in that regard has to be respected. To borrow a famous quote voiced by a well-known thespian from a somewhat recent Hindi film, “No means no.”,” the Court said.

Title: TV TODAY NETWORK LIMITED v. ABC & ORS

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Del) 602

Click here to read order