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

  •   Sat, Jul 30 2022
  •   By John B Monteiro

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.

 

Also read:

 

 

 
By John B Monteiro
To submit your article / poem / short story to Daijiworld, please email it to news@daijiworld.com mentioning 'Article/poem submission for daijiworld' in the subject line. Please note the following:

  • The article / poem / short story should be original and previously unpublished in other websites except in the personal blog of the author. We will cross-check the originality of the article, and if found to be copied from another source in whole or in parts without appropriate acknowledgment, the submission will be rejected.
  • The author of the poem / article / short story should include a brief self-introduction limited to 500 characters and his/her recent picture (optional). Pictures relevant to the article may also be sent (optional), provided they are not bound by copyright. Travelogues should be sent along with relevant pictures not sourced from the Internet. Travelogues without relevant pictures will be rejected.
  • In case of a short story / article, the write-up should be at least one-and-a-half pages in word document in Times New Roman font 12 (or, about 700-800 words). Contributors are requested to keep their write-ups limited to a maximum of four pages. Longer write-ups may be sent in parts to publish in installments. Each installment should be sent within a week of the previous installment. A single poem sent for publication should be at least 3/4th of a page in length. Multiple short poems may be submitted for single publication.
  • All submissions should be in Microsoft Word format or text file. Pictures should not be larger than 1000 pixels in width, and of good resolution. Pictures should be attached separately in the mail and may be numbered if the author wants them to be placed in order.
  • Submission of the article / poem / short story does not automatically entail that it would be published. Daijiworld editors will examine each submission and decide on its acceptance/rejection purely based on merit.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to edit the submission if necessary for grammar and spelling, without compromising on the author's tone and message.
  • Daijiworld reserves the right to reject submissions without prior notice. Mails/calls on the status of the submission will not be entertained. Contributors are requested to be patient.
  • The article / poem / short story should not be targeted directly or indirectly at any individual/group/community. Daijiworld will not assume responsibility for factual errors in the submission.
  • Once accepted, the article / poem / short story will be published as and when we have space. Publication may take up to four weeks from the date of submission of the write-up, depending on the number of submissions we receive. No author will be published twice in succession or twice within a fortnight.
  • Time-bound articles (example, on Mother's Day) should be sent at least a week in advance. Please specify the occasion as well as the date on which you would like it published while sending the write-up.

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.”


Leave a Comment

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



You have 2000 characters left.

Disclaimer:

Please write your correct name and email address. Kindly do not post any personal, abusive, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, discriminatory or unlawful or similar comments. Daijiworld.com will not be responsible for any defamatory message posted under this article.

Please note that sending false messages to insult, defame, intimidate, mislead or deceive people or to intentionally cause public disorder is punishable under law. It is obligatory on Daijiworld to provide the IP address and other details of senders of such comments, to the authority concerned upon request.

Hence, sending offensive comments using daijiworld will be purely at your own risk, and in no way will Daijiworld.com be held responsible.