The story also faced criticism from journalists and commentators. It was condemned as sensationalist journalism that was engaging in gossip about the private life of a female politician and disparaging her. The criticism was accompanied by questions on Dainik Jagran's ambitions of becoming a serious national newspaper and charges of the newspaper lacking journalistic ethics, professionalism and credibility. Some of the prominent critics included the chairman of the Press Council, Judge P. B. Sawant and the editor-in-chief of Jansatta, Prabash Joshi. K. Vikram Rao, the national chairman of a major journalist's union suggested that a more rigorous system was required, that a specialised training in journalism should be needed before a person could be employed by a newspaper and that the Press Council should have stronger tools for penalising journalists.
