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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Dara joins rush for court curbs on media-Samanwaya Rautray

Dara joins rush for court curbs on media-Samanwaya Rautray

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published Published on Apr 26, 2012   modified Modified on Apr 26, 2012

The list of those complaining about trial by media is growing by the day: among the latest additions is Dara Singh, convicted of the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons.

A Supreme Court Constitution bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, S.H. Kapadia, is mulling guidelines for the media to report sub-judice matters.

Dara has filed an application claiming that intense media pressure had prevented the courts from giving him the benefit of doubt. His review petition is yet to be decided by the top court.

In an application filed by his brother Arbind Kumar, Dara claimed that others with similar evidence against them got away but he was convicted because the media made his case a “cause celebre”.

The application said Dara was pious, upright and innocent. “However, …the media have been after the applicant (Dara), running a continuous campaign for his conviction.”

“The media have not analysed the evidence and have never discussed facts. Yet, throughout the judicial procedure… sections of the media have maintained that the applicant is guilty of the murder of Graham Staines. There has been no attempt to verify the allegations,” the application said.

The application, filed by lawyer Sibo Sankar Mishra, is expected to be heard along with several others by the bench that will decide how to deal with misreporting of sub-judice cases.

During these hearings, senior counsel Ram Jethmalani has already cited the case of Manu Sharma, whose acquittal in the Jessica Lal murder case was overturned by the high court, as a case of trial by the media.

Yesterday, the Singapore-based promoters of Speak Asia, whose sister concerns are facing allegations of defrauding investors, had complained about trial by media.

Their lawyer Aabad H.H. Ponda had sought tighter guidelines to prevent the media from reporting anything in a first information report or a chargesheet.

The role of the media should be confined to reporting that an FIR or a chargesheet has been filed, without going into the contents, he had said.

Youth for Equality, which fought against the OBC quota on the grounds that it would affect merit, also backed tighter control on the media.

The media do not have a fundamental right to have access to the courts or report its proceedings and the courts have unrestrained powers to ensure that the accused get a fair trial, the NGO’s lawyer, Gopal Shankarnarayan, told the bench.

This led senior lawyer Rajeev Dhavan to protest that the Editors’ Guild should be given an opportunity to counter the view.

“We maintain that these are suo motu proceedings,” he said, prompting Justice Kapadia to contest his claim.

“This is not a suo motu case,” Justice Kapadia said, emphasising that the court was looking into a complaint filed by Sahara India into leak of information given to Sebi, the securities watchdog, about the value of an asset.

The Telegraph, 26 April, 2012, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120426/jsp/nation/story_15420499.jsp#.T5jliVL5nYQ


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