The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stop the media from reporting on oral observations made by judges as sought by the Election Commission of India in the wake of the scathing observations made by the Madras High Court.
Hearing the Special Leave Petition filed by the ECI, the Supreme Court Bench comprising Justice DY Chandrachud and MR Shah said, “The ECI is a constitutional body which has entrusted with functions of conducting the elections. We cannot in today’s times, say that media will not report the discussions that take place in court.”
Justice Chandrachud, according to Livelaw, added, “The discussions that take place are of importance, in fact of the same order and are in the public interest. It’s not a monologue that one person will speak and then Judges will speak. We have an Indian pattern of arguments in court.”
“The unfolding of debate in the court of law is equally important and the media has a duty to report. It’s not only our judgments that are present for our citizens,” Justice Chandrachud continued.
The ECI moved the Supreme Court after the Madras High Court said that the national poll body should face murder charges for allowing big election rallies even during the pandemic. The ECI had challenged the observations made against them in the Madras High Court, but the court turned down the plea. This had prompted the ECI to approach the Supreme Court.
Justice Shah: Sometimes when something is observed it is for the larger public interest. Sometimes they are frustrated, they are angered. You should accept it in the right spirit. They are also human beings. Your subsequent decisions after the remarks matter.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) May 3, 2021
Justice Shah, for his part, told the ECI lawyer that he ought to take the observations made by the Madras High Court in his stride. “Sometimes when something is observed it is for the larger public interest. Sometimes they are frustrated, they are angered. You should accept it in the right spirit. They are also human beings. Your subsequent decisions after the remarks matter.”
The Election Commission was forced to take concrete steps to ensure right protocol was followed during the counting after the scathing observations were made by the Madras High Court.