Supreme Court declines EC plea to restrain media reports

Real-time reportage of court proceedings, including the oral exchanges in courtrooms between judges and lawyers, is part of the right to freedom of speech, the Supreme Court held in a judgment.
“With the advent of technology, we are seeing reporting proliferate through social media forums which provide real-time updates to a much wider audience. This is an extension of the freedom of speech and expression that the media possesses. This constitutes a virtual extension of the open court,” a Bench led by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud observed in a judgment.
Such live reporting of court proceedings is a cause of celebration rather than apprehension.

Madras HC remarks

The court declined a plea made by the Election Commission of India to restrain the media from reporting oral remarks made by a Division Bench of the Madras High court.
The HC judges had said that poll body officials should be charged with “murder” for allowing rallies and mass gatherings during the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections.
The judges had remarked that the EC was solely responsible for the COVID surge.
In the judgment, Justice Chandrachud said the case posed a delicate balancing of powers between the HC and the ECI, which are both constitutional authorities.
The court said that except in cases of child sexual abuse and marital issues, the phenomenon of free press should extend to court proceedings.
“Citizens have a right to know about what transpires in the course of judicial proceedings. The dialogue in a court indicates the manner in which a judicial proceeding is structured... Arguments addressed before the court, the response of opposing counsel and issues raised by the court are matters on which citizens have a legitimate right to be informed,” Justice Chandrachud observed.
The court referred to how the Gujarat High Court had recently introduced live-streaming of its proceedings in a bid to enhance public participation in the dispensation of justice.
“In this backdrop, it would be retrograde for this court to promote the rule of law and access to justice on one hand, and shield the daily operations of the High Courts and this court from the media in all its forms, by gagging the reporting of proceedings,” Justice Chandrachud said.
The court said oral observations made during the course of a hearing do not bind the parties and do not form a part of the judgment. An exchange of views was intrinsic to the applicability of mind and the process of judging.

Source: TH

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