Today, Chief Justice of India NV Ramana berated media for running Kangaroo courts and conducting media trial on sub-judice matters, thereby, making the job of judges difficult and adversely affecting the justice delivery system. Speaking at a public lecture at the National University of Study & Research in Law, Ranchi, the CJI urged the media, particularly the electronic and social media, to behave responsibly and cautioned that the media will be inviting interference from the courts or the government, if they overstep their limits.
He said that by running agenda-driven debates, media was overstepping and breaching its responsibility and taking democracy two steps backwards. “Of late, we see the media running kangaroo courts, at times on issues even experienced judges find difficult to decide. Ill-informed and agenda driven debates on issues involving justice delivery are proving to be detrimental to the health of democracy. Biased views being propagated by media are affecting the people, weakening democracy, and harming the system. In this process, justice delivery gets adversely affected,” he said.
This is what is harming the judicial institution and lowering its dignity”, Justice Pardiwala had commented at a public event two weeks back. On this note, Justice Pardiwala had called for Parliamentary intervention to regulate social and digital media.
