Plea In Delhi HC Seeks To Regulate Media Reporting Of Lawyers-Police Clash [Read Petition]

Seeking to regulate the media reporting of the clash between Delhi police and lawyers, a Public Interest Litigation petition has been filed in the Delhi High Court.

The petition field by Pawan Prakash Pathak and Prakash Sharma, two Delhi-based lawyers,  states that the reports in media about the issue has shown legal fraternity in bad light. The petitioners state that the media has given a different spin to the issue to 'suit their TRP'.

News reports on the issue have been partisan and defamatory against advocates, and some news channels have called advocates 'gundas', the petition states.

According to the petitioners, their petition is against "unreasonable and unwarranted" journalism which have reported the issue as a tension between lawyers and police.

"The issue which would have been resolved by simple mediation between the two sides has been given colour of "Lawyers vs Police"and same is being telecasted throughout the day", states the petition.

"News on-air like "goons in blackcoat" "Dogs in black Coat" "Dictatorship of Black Coat"seeds the suspicious question in mind of public at large that the judiciary and its court officers are not trustworthy and there is a situation of emergency in the country and such unreasonable news with no fact-finding is pushing the Indian democracy into grave danger,as such telecast portray the picture far away from reality and is not the true meaning and spirit of journalism", the petition says.

Quoting the order passed by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, the petition stated that lawyers and police were the two sides of same coin. There was no 'Lawyers v Police' issue, asserted the petitioners.

The petitioners seek to direct the Union Government to regulate the media reports and viral content on social media which show judiciary and legal profession in bad light and promote the feeling of enmity between lawyers and police.

The media reports which worsen the situation and create feeling of unrest between both the communities should be avoided, the plea stated.

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