CJI for caution against trial by media

New Delhi (PTI): Cautioning against trial by media which hampers the rights of the accused, Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan on Sunday said the provisions on contempt of court were meant to protect the interest of the common man and enforce judicial orders.
"It is only with the threat of contempt that many government authorities obey court orders...(the provisions) are to protect the interest of the common man and for administration of justice," he said.
On suggestions for liberal interpretation of the contempt provisions, the CJI said "the problem was not with the law but with its misuse."
Addressing the final session of a two-day workshop on "Reporting of Court Proceedings by Media and Administration of Justice", Chief Justice Balakrishnan said regarding cases pending in court the media should refrain from attempts to "prejudice the trial."
Referring to the poor infrastructure in courts, the CJI said the condition in some courts was so bad that people would not like to appear in them. He, however, said a review of provision on personal appearance in defamation cases was for the legislature to decide.
Editor-in-chief of The Hindu, N. Ram, sought decriminalisation of the law of defamation and pointed to an impression about "a degree of intolerance" within the judiciary while looking at issues related to contemptuous articles.
Earlier, Executive Editor of PTI V S Chandrasekar felt that while the media had a right to run a campaign in cases of blatant miscarriage of justice it cannot deny to an accused his right to be heard.
Chandrasekar said the media also should respect the right of an accused to maintain silence on a matter which is sub-judice.
The advent of TV channels has overturned some of the ethics followed by the print media for years in reporting court room observations made off the cuff by judges, he said.
Supreme Court judge, Justice Arijit Pasayat, emphasised on the need to train journalists involved in reporting court proceedings and said "a half-baked journalist was likely to create problems."
Justice H K Sema was open to scrutiny by the media but said the only thing that the judiciary wanted was "impartiality" and not a "favour."
Editor and columnist B G Verghese favoured guidelines for regulation of the media and said there was no need for the media to be wary of a regulatory mechanism as "unless you have strong brakes, you cannot move fast."
Senior advocate K K Venugopal cited international models and said a mechanism involving ombudsman could be evolved for dealing with matters related to media reports without taking them to a judicial forum.
Senior advocate Ashok Desai criticised the practice of lawyers appearing on camera and giving interviews which, at times, gave distorted view about the proceedings that took place in court.
Senior advocate K Parasaran said the media should refrain from creating public opinion that might create pressure on judges, who are already a stressed lot.
THE HINDU; Sunday, March 30, 2008