Shameful attempt by Kerala courts to silence media
Kerala has been witness to a rather disturbing development over the past ten days.
The vibrant media in India's most literate state is being kept out of various courts in the state since July 20.
Though no provocation or clashes have been reported in the past few days, the incidents on July 19, 20 and 21 in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram which saw lawyers clashing with journalists seem to have widened the fault lines between the media and the judiciary.
What is astonishing is that the judiciary seems to be in no hurry to restore the status quo that prevailed prior to July 19, possibly deferring to the sentiments of the lawyers.
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| Lawyers clashed with journalists at the Kerala High Court premises. |
To understand the situation in detail, one has to go back to the events that eventually led to the skirmish.
July 14-15
On Thursday, July 14, after 7pm, a lady was allegedly molested by a man near Convent Junction in Kochi.
Alerted by the lady's cry, a few passers-by chased the culprit who tried to flee and nabbed him. He was handed over to the police who arrived at the spot from the nearby police station.
Soon it emerged that the man in custody was Dhanesh Mathew Manjooran, a government pleader practising in the Kerala High Court. Manjooran's arrest was registered but he got bail subsequently when his relatives influenced the complainant to get her to sign on an affidavit citing mistaken identity.
While the matter would have ended there, Manjooran then went on to target the sub inspector of police who had arrested him and dashed off complaints to the authorities.
The Kerala High Court Advocates' Association (KHCAA) too got involved on July 15 and forwarded a complaint to the advocate general calling for action against the officer.
Sensing trouble, Vimal V, the officer who had got the pleader arrested, managed to take the lady to a magistrate, where she recorded her 164 (Cr.PC) statement implicating Manjooran and describing her ordeal in detail. The media got hold of the lady's statement and soon it went viral on social networking sites.
July 18
On Monday, July 18, the pleader Manjooran gave an interview to an online news agency that he was framed in the case.
However, Kochi police commissioner MP Dinesh shortly released a statement that said, "The colleagues and relatives of the accused met the complainant and told her that Manjooran's wife had attempted suicide after the news of her husband's indiscretion appeared in the media, and that his child was terminally ill.
"They compelled the complainant to back off from the case and it was agreed that the victim would not identify the accused in court. Later, an affidavit was prepared in English and the complainant was made to sign on it, after convincing her that the affidavit was a document to be submitted before the court. The affidavit was submitted before the judicial first class magistrate's court when Manjooran was produced there."
The same day, KHCAA unanimously passed a resolution protesting against the action of the police.
July 19
On Tuesday, July 19, Deccan Chronicle carried a report by legal reporter Rohit Raj that the above resolution passed by the KHCAA was not unanimous, citing sources.
The same day, an advocate approached Rohit in the court premises and cornered him on his report. A dozen other advocates assembled showering abuses at Rohit and even pushing him around.
When Rohit's media colleagues got wind of it, they began to prepare a petition in the media room to be submitted to the chief justice, registrar and the advocate general. Soon, a few lawyers began heckling the media persons.
Nandagopalan Nambiar, a lawyer doubling up as Asianet's legal correspondent and trying to calm tempers, was also in the thick of it.
Soon after that, around 20 media persons took out a protest march from the Ernakulam Press Club to the KHCAA office protesting the behaviour of a group of lawyers and the treatment meted out to their fraternity in the court.
The media also boycotted a press conference called by the KHCAA in the evening to register their protest.
On the same day, the KHCAA had planned to take out a protest march of their own against the police but was prevailed upon by Manjooran to call it off as it would have affected his case in the high court that was up for hearing. The KHCAA maintains that they called it off on their own volition.
The high court, while hearing Manjooran's plea, refused to stay the proceedings in the case. Additional judge of the Kerala High Court, Justice Sunil Thomas, also asked the state government to submit its stand on the case.
July 20
On Wednesday, July 20, Deccan Chronicle published a correction of its report the previous day on KHCAA's resolution and regretted its error.
In the afternoon, a group of lawyers threatened three senior women legal reporters present in the high court media room.
They claimed that there has been a violation of an unofficial communication by the registrar that the media room should not be used until further notice. However, the lady reporters had no intimation and the agitated lawyers locked these women inside the room before they were escorted out by female lawyers safely to the registrar's office.
This led to a sit-in by almost 50 media persons in front of the high court complex, which is against the law.
The advocates complained that the police stood as spectators when the rule prohibiting protests within close proximity of the court premises was being flouted by the media.
What followed soon was something extremely disgraceful as a group of lawyers clashed with the heavily outnumbered media persons. The lawyers claimed that the media had blocked the exit gate which is contradicted by the version given by the media.
July 21
On Thursday, the venue of the clashes shifted to Thiruvananthapuram and in the Vanchiyoor court premises; the media room here was plastered with stickers of "No entry for Fourth Gender".
The same stickers were also pasted on some media vans parked in the court premises. In what seemed like a conspiracy, the media crew that went to report this was trapped inside the gates and pelted with stones and beer bottles. Apart from a couple of journalists, a clerk and a senior female lawyer too got injured in the clash.
July 22-23
On Friday, July 22, lawyers called for a strike and refused to appear in cases in the high court paralysing the proceedings.
Kerala Human Rights Commission chairperson, Justice Jacob Benjamin Koshy, called it illegal and unconstitutional.
In the aftermath of the clashes in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, a meeting was held between the representatives of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) and the KHCAA in the presence of the advocate general where a judicial inquiry into the matter was agreed upon.
Two judges from the high court visited Thiruvananthapuram and met with the representatives of the lawyers and the media.
On Saturday, July 23, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan chaired a meeting attended by the advocate general, senior police officers and the representatives of the KUWJ and KHCAA.
Though Vijayan responded in a lighter vein to the question on whether status quo prior to the incidents would be restored, he expressed his helplessness in dealing with matters inside the court premises as the chief justice is the custodian.
The impasse persists
On Monday, July 25, Arshi Quraishi and Rizwan Khan associated with the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) were presented in the Ernakulam sessions court in the case related to the 21 people from Kerala suspected to have joined the Islamic State (ISIS). The media was asked to stay outside the court premises by the police to prevent an incident though no official order of any judge existed to stop them entering the court premises.
On Wednesday, July 27, as the verdict in the sensational murder case involving Aadu Antony was pronounced, it was a sad sight to see the media waiting outside the Kollam court premises and depending on a police officer's briefing to report on live TV.
On both occasions, the self-restraint of the media prevented any untoward incident from happening as the lawyers formed a human chain to prevent the media's entry. With large police deployment in the court complex that also houses the civil station, general public were greatly inconvenienced as well.
Politics at play?
People have begun to wonder if the pressure tactics of the lawyers have the tacit support of the government and the chief minister as the deadlock seems to be persisting and with no end to the stalemate in sight.
Allegations of this nature by independent legislator PC George have also lent credence to these doubts.
George alleged the involvement of MK Damodaran, who had to quit as the legal advisor to the chief minister in the wake of relentless pressure exerted by the media in particular. Vijayan had also refused to answer questions from the media on this matter for the better part of this week.
A senior lawyer spoke off the record that the chief minister could resolve the matter through the office of the advocate general if he so chooses. But it seems he is in no hurry to settle the matter. Till then, it seems, the unofficial media blackout from the courts would linger, which is a huge shame for a state like Kerala.