Mumbai, Mar 30 (Deccan Chronicle): The Chief Justice of Bombay High Court on Wednesday rapped journalists for not maintaining the “decorum of the court”, after a journalist was spotted wearing a T-shirt and jeans.
Referring to the journalist clad in question, Chief Justice Dr Manjula Chellur asked whether it is a part of ‘Bombay culture’ to wear such clothes while covering court proceedings, which left the journalists present in the Court red-faced.
As per Court rules, a common man visiting the Court is expected to be dressed properly as per existing social norms and not wear any obscene clothes. The top judge also chided the journalists for their coverage of the recent resident doctor’s agitation wherein media organisations had cited oral observations that were made in court rather than just reporting the final court order.
The division bench of Dr Chellur and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was hearing the case of agitating doctors wherein the counsel pointed out that media reports had ascribed a quote to Dr Chellur wherein she had compared doctors to factory workers.
On her attention being drawn to the fact, Dr Chellur berated the journalists present for misreporting the doctor’s agitation and not maintaining any uniformity in their reporting of the issue.
Justice V.G. Palshikar, former judge of the Bombay High Court, when asked about his views on the outburst said, “Dr Chellur is the Chief Justice of a premier High Court in the nation. She should have chosen her words properly as it is not her prerogative to prescribe a dress code to the people attending her court.”
Justice Palshikar further added, “She cannot decide on how the media should work, rather she could have simply directed the journalists to report accurately.”
According to a senior advocate present in court, the Chief Justice was riled because of the fact that rather than reporting only as per the court orders, various media organisations had cited the oral observations (related to the resident doctors’ strike) that were made by her.
“The oral observations were intended to just highlight the problems of the doctors and did not require to be reported. Journalists are expected to be judicious while reporting the main issue rather than sensationalising it,” said the senior lawyer.