New Delhi, July 24 (Bureau) Expressing serious concern about the concerted campaigns in media, particularly social media, against judges and “ill-informed and agenda driven debates” on issues related to cases before Courts, the CJI NV Ramana on Saturday said that several media organisations in the country were running “kangaroo courts” on issues even experienced judges find difficult to decide on.The Chief Justice of India (CJI) Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana was speaking at the Jharkhand Judicial Academy in Ranchi today, where he delivered inaugural Justice SB Sinha Memorial Lecture on “Life of a Judge”. Delivering the inaugural lecture instituted in the memory of Justice Satya Brata Sinha, CJI Ramana said”Media trials cannot be a guiding factor in deciding cases. Of late, we see the media running kangaroo courts at times on issues even experienced judges find difficult to decide. Ill-informed and agenda-driven debates on issues involving justice delivery are proving to be detrimental to the health of democracy,” he said. He added that, “Biased views being propagated by media are affecting the people, weakening democracy, and harming the system.
In this process, justice delivery gets adversely affected. By overstepping and breaching your responsibility, you are taking our democracy two steps backward” He, however, said that Print media still has a certain degree of accountability. Electronic media has zero accountability as what it shows vanishes into thin air. “At times, there are concerted campaigns in media, particularly on social media, against judges,” he said.He said, in fact, looking at the recent trends, it is best for the media to self-regulate and measure their words. You should not overstep and invite interference, either from the government or from the courts. Asking media, particularly electronic and social media, to behave responsibly, the CJI Ramana said, the power should be used to educate the people and energise the nation in a collective endeavor to build a progressive, prosperous and peaceful India. He also stressed the need to strengthen the judiciary, saying an increasing number of physical attacks on judges are being witnessed. “Can you imagine, a judge who has served on the bench for decades, putting hardened criminals behind the bar, once he retires, loses all the protection that came with the tenure? Judges have to live in the same society as the people that they have convicted, without any security or assurance of safety,” the CJI Ramana said.