Chief Justice of India NV Ramana on Saturday said that the media trials, kangaroo courts run by the media, concerted campaigns against judges in the media along with ill-informed and agenda-driven debates on issues involving justice delivery are proving to be detrimental to the health of democracy.
Delivering the inaugural Justice SB Sinha Memorial lecture on “Life of a Judge” at Judicial Academy, Ranchi, the CJI said, “Doing justice is not an easy responsibility. It is becoming increasingly challenging with each passing day. At times, there are also concerted campaigns in the media, particularly on social media against judges. Another aspect which affects the fair functioning and independence of judiciary is the rising number of media trials. New media tools have enormous amplifying ability but appear to be incapable of distinguishing between the right and the wrong, the good and the bad and the real and the fake. Media trials cannot be a guiding factor in deciding cases.”
“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. By overstepping and breaching your responsibility, you are taking our democracy two steps backwards,” he added.
The CJI further said, “Print media still has certain degree of accountability. Whereas, electronic media has zero accountability as what it shows vanishes into thin year. Still worse is social media.”
“Owing to the frequent transgressions and consequent social unrests, there is a growing demand for stricter media regulations and accountability. In fact, looking at recent trends, it is best for the media to self-regulate and measure their words. You should not overstep and invite interference, either from the government or from the courts. Judges may not react immediately. Please don’t mistake it to be a weakness or helplessness. When liberties are exercised responsibly, within their domains, there will be no necessity of placing reasonable or proportionate external restrictions” he said.
Justice Ramana requested media to be responsible. “I urge upon the media, particularly the electronic and social media, to behave responsibly. You are as important a stakeholder as we are. Please use the power of your voice to educate the people and to energize the nation in our collective endeavor to build a progressive, prosperous, and peaceful India,” he said.
The chief justice of India also inaugurated two courts in Garhwa and Chandil apart from handing over scholarship among students who lost their parents during Covid-19 pandemic.
