New Delhi: Chief Justice N.V. Ramana on Saturday 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.
Urging the media to self-regulate, the Chief Justice of India called the media behaviour "biased", "ill-informed" and "agenda-driven".
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 stressed the need to ensure proper judicial infrastructure, the problems created by media trial in judicial administration, future challenges of the judiciary and the importance of judicial review in protection of the Constitution.
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 the speech.
"There are concerted campaigns in social media against judges. Judges may not react immediately. Please don't mistake it to be a weakness or helplessness," he said in an indirect reference to TV debates and social media campaigns ran by those sympathising with the present dispensation after the recent SC verdict on Nupur Sharma who is accused of insulting Islam and Muslims.
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."
He further said that biased views propagated by media are affecting people, weakening democracy, and harming the system.
In the process, justice delivery gets adversely affected.
"By overstepping and breaching your responsibility, you are taking our democracy two steps backward," he blasted.
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