Should Courts and Their Judgments Be ‘Touch-me-nots’?

July 30, 2022

O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts and men have lost their reason!” -William Shakespeare (1564- 1616) English dramatic poet in Julius Ceasar.

The quotation above is from Mark Antony’ s famous ‘Friend, Romans, countrymen” at the funeral of Julius Caesar.

Judges of higher courts – Supreme Court and High Courts - are today an irritated, and even angry, lot over the way the media has been covering the functioning of courts and commenting on their judgments.

Unlike Caesar, justice is not dead but the judgments and court functioning are sometimes adversely covered and commented on as reflected in the recent remarks of Supreme Court Chief Justice as condensed below.

Chief Justice N.V. Ramana on July 23, 2022, hit out at electronic and social media 'trials', saying that media run 'kangaroo courts' at times on issues and even experienced judges find it difficult to decide. Speaking at the inaugural 'Justice S. B. Sinha Memorial Lecture' on "Life of a Judge" organised by National University of Study & Research in Law, Ranchi, the Chief Justice spoke about the problems created by media trial in judicial administration.

Asserting that we are living in a complex society, Ramana said that “the role of a person holding a position in the judiciary or governance becomes extremely crucial as their decisions at critical junctures influence the growth and progress of humanity. Doing justice is not an easy responsibility. It is becoming increasingly challenging with each passing day," he said, pointing out the increasing number of media trials.

"New media tools have the 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," he said in his speech. Rapping the biased views appearing on social media, he said: "Ill-informed and agenda-driven debates on issues involving justice delivery are proving to be detrimental to the health of democracy."

There are instances of other higher judiciary judges expressing similar views.

The subject is open to many views. What are yours? Your response is invited in the format given below (Pl. scroll down a bit). Over to you.

 

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By John B Monteiro
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Comment on this article

  • Rajan, Mangalore

    Wed, Aug 03 2022

    Since there have been inconsistencies the issue has come up ----JUDGEMENTS -- (ALSO ON TAKING UP MOST PRESSING CASES -- MANY LANGUISHING IN JAIL -- GETTING BAIL ETC)-- “It is not merely of some importance but is of fundamental importance that justice should not only be done, but should manifestly and undoubtedly be seen to be done”. Lord Hewart---------------- ----------------------- -Perhaps the only answer is to be found in the dialogue between -- Humpty Dumpty and Alice, in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass: “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master*—that’s all.”


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