Sir,
We – representing the regional committee of the Indian Newspaper Society and Kerala Television Federation - welcome you to our state on the occasion of her 60th birthday. As you know, the state and its High Court share the same birthday of November 1. While welcoming you to Kerala on this occasion, we are saddened to inform you that a huge blot left by a section of the judiciary has blurred the transparency of the judicial process even as grand preparations for the diamond jubilee celebrations are on. For the last six decades, the state has benefited from the timely intervention of many illustrious judges, whose vision and perspective have given Kerala the right roadmap to evolve as an enlightened society with good legal literacy.
But a series of sad incidents - stemming from the reportage of senior government pleader Dhanesh Mathew Manjooran’s misbehaviour with a woman at a crowded Kochi street – have cast a slur on this synergy. You may recall a meeting our senior representatives had with you in New Delhi. They had also met the President of India during that trip to apprise him of the reality regarding the media ban in Kerala and had urged his cooperation too. We thank you for the patient audience you had given them. We were optimistic of an early solution post this meeting. But unfortunately precious little has changed on the ground.
This bleak scenario continues in spite of intervention of Governor Justice P Sathasivam, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, various international press associations, senior leaders of all socio-political organizations and prominent citizens. To give you an update, journalists were hounded out of the Chief Justice’s court the very next day a third communiqué reassuring the media of hassle-free entry and reporting, signed by the Registrar General, was sent to our offices. To mention that this shocked and surprised us would be an understatement. But what is more worrying is the ugly pattern in which the whole script is being played out in courtrooms across the state.
At the Vanchiyoor court in Thiruvanathapuram, sadly, again in the presence of the judge, journalists, including women, were booed, manhandled and elbowed out of the courtroom. Their equipment were damaged. Of course, this attack by lawyers was less severe than earlier incidents when empty beer bottles, stocked on the court premises, were hurled at media persons. But a highly slanderous campaign, tarnishing women journalists, especially by putting up flex boards with their photographs, has been unleashed to demoralize us more.
The situation has come to such a pass that advocates are threatened not to represent media houses when their legal issues come before various courts. In effect, apart from being prevented from discharging our constitutional rights granted under the Freedom of Expression provisions, the media as a whole are being denied the right to natural justice to present their side of the story – on any issue, for that matter – before any judicial officer. The muscle power of a section of lawyers has built a wall between readers and legal news. Watched by an indifferent section of judiciary, this gag mentality is tarnishing beyond recognition the crystal-clear transparency that was once the hallmark of the media-court synergy.
It, indeed, is sad that the very concept of the rule of law is being challenged by some of the custodians of law on the premises of courts. Repeated assurances inviting media like any other visitor to a court have become a mere formality. But we have no access to PS’s chambers of judges. The media room remains closed. Sir, you would attest to the view of Jeremy Bentham, British philosopher: “Where there is no publicity, there is no justice. Publicity is the very soul of justice. It is the surest of all guards against improbity”.
This open letter, lest it should be our last appeal before we are all forced to withdraw colleagues from courts taking into consideration their safety and security, is to request you to counsel sense to this section of judiciary and lawyers of Kerala who are standing between our right to practise journalism and the reader/viewer’s right to information. Once again, we greet you on the occasion of the diamond jubilee. Earnestly hope you would resolve the issue before bidding adieu to the state.
