By IANS,
New Delhi: The media came in for some scathing comments by the Delhi High Court, which asked it to remain within the “Lakshman Rekha” or limits while reporting on criminal trials and not “go overboard”.
While ruling on the infamous BMW hit-and-run case, Justice Kailash Gambhir said: “No doubt the media has an important role in disseminating information, creating public opinion in matters which are of vital concern to the society, exposing misdeeds of high and mighty, but it is being exceedingly felt that while doing so, in some cases particularly relating to crime and punishment, the media is going over board.”
“Many a time, an accused who is yet to be tried and convicted, is pronounced guilty by the media by referring to such evidence which is not even admissible in evidence, such as, confessional statements made before police officers.”
The court also pulled up the electronic channels for sensationalising news in their greed for high TRPs, resulting many times in causing harm to a person’s reputation.
“The various channels of electronic media in order to outdo each other repeat an incident ad nauseam, little realising that it has the effect of generating public opinion against the culprit even before he is found guilty. Let not the media forget that judges are also human and like any other human sometimes even they can err because of the hype created in relation to a particular incident.
“Like all other wings of our democratic set up such as executive, judiciary and legislature who are supposed to remain within their bounds, the Media, which is the fourth estate, must also not cross the ‘Laxman Rekha’. If it abides by this principle, it will be doing more good to the society and to the administration of justice.”
The court reduced the jail term of Sanjeev Nanda from five years to two.