“Today's Media Blitz - is contemporary media aiding judicial trial or eroding legal process- A thought- Provoking discussion”

There was a very vibrant interactive panel discussion on “Today's Media Blitz - is contemporary media aiding judicial trial or eroding legal process- A thought- Provoking discussion” on Saturday last in the Modern College of Law. 

Here is a glimpse of the panel discussion and the participants.

Here is the text of the presentation led by me at the penal discussion.

Today's Media Blitz - is contemporary media aiding judicial trial or eroding legal process- A thought- Provoking discussion.

1.  The Indian Constitution enshrines the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary as the three pillars of the democracy.

2.  While the legislature comprises of representatives elected by the people, the executive is formed by those who would run the Government from among the elected representatives.

3.  The existence of an independent judiciary is sine quo non for any democracy.

4.  The presence of a free press is considered to be an objective watchdog, which oversees the functioning of other three pillars of democracy in a non-partisan manner.

5.  In the constitution of India, the judiciary has an independent role and Article 141 vests the power of guardianship in the Supreme Court of India as the interpreter and protector of the constitution.

6.  The freedom of expression albeit with some restrictions have been guaranteed in various sections of 19 on the chapter of Fundamental Rights in part 3 of the constitution of India.

7.  The media derive their mandate to act as forth pillar of democracy in the Indian context principally from Article 19 in case of dispute over media matters, the Press Council of India is a quasi judicial body which is the arbitrator.

8.  In the last two decades there has been a rising trend of media taking on itself various public issues and conducting its own trial simultaneously with the judiciary, probably with the motive to compliment and supplement the judicial process.

9.  However, in many occasions the media trial looks to be more and affront to the judiciary and consequently a deliberate or inadvertent attempt by the media to usurp the power and role of the judiciary, thereby eroding the legal process.

10.   Here are some of the leading cases which are standing examples of media trials and sting operations.

11.  Priyadarshini Matoo, a 25 year old law student was raped and murdered at her house on January 23, 1996.

12.   Jessica Lal Murder case (1999) - Jessica Lal was a model in New Delhi, who was working as a celebrity barmaid at a crowded socialite party when she was shot dead at around 2 am on 30 April 1999. Dozens of witnesses pointed to SiddharthVashisht, also known as Manu Sharma, the son of Venod Sharma, a wealthy and influential Congress-nominated Member of Parliament from Haryana, as the murderer. In the ensuing trial, Manu Sharma and a number of others were acquitted on 21 February 2006.Following intense media and public pressure, the prosecution appealed and the Delhi High Court conducted proceedings on a fast track with daily hearings conducted over 25 days. The trial court judgment was overturned, and Manu Sharma was found guilty of having murdered Lal. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on 20 December 2006.

13.  The Noida serial murders (also Nithari serial murders, Nithari Kand) occurred in the house of businessman Moninder Singh Pandher in Nithari, India in 2005 and 2006. His servant Surinder Koli was convicted of the five murders and was sentenced to death. Eleven murders remain officially unsolved pending further legal proceedings. Surinder Koli's death sentence was changed to a life sentence by the Supreme Court on 7 September 2014.

14. 2008 double Murder of Aarushi Talwar, 14 year old girl and 45-year-old HemrajBanjade, a domestic worker, employed by her family in Noida. The two were killed on the night of 15–16 May 2008 at Aarushi's home. The case aroused public interest as a whodunit story, and received heavy media coverage. The sensational media coverage, which included salacious allegations against Aarushi and the suspects, was criticized by many as a trial by media.

15. The Satyam Computer Services scandal is a corporate scandal that worked in India in 2009 where chairman Ramalinga Raju confessed that the company's accounts had been falsified. The Global corporate community was shocked and scandalised when the chairman of Satyam, Ramalinga Raju resigned on 7 January 2009 and confessed that he had manipulated the accounts by US$1.47-Billion. In February 2009, CBI took over the investigation and filed three charge sheets (on 7 April 2009, 24 November 2009 and 7 January 2010), which were later clubbed into one. On 10 April 2015, Ramalinga Raju was convicted with 10 other members.

16.The 2G spectrum scam (2 April 2011)  was an Indian telecommunications scam and political scandal in which politicians and government officials under the Indian National Congress (Congress) coalition government undercharged mobile telephone companies for frequency allocation licenses, which they then used to create 2G spectrum subscriptions for cell phones. The difference between the money collected and that mandated to be collected was estimated by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India at 1.76 trillion (US$26 billion), based on 2010 3G and BWA spectrum-auction prices. In a charge sheet filed on 2 April 2011 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI, the investigating agency), the loss was pegged at 309845.5 million (US$4.6 billion).

17.              The 2012 Delhi gang rape case involved a rape and fatal assault that occurred on 16 December 2012 in Munirka, a neighbourhood in South Delhi. The incident took place when a 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern, Jyoti Singh was beaten, gang raped, and tortured in a private bus in which she was traveling with her friend, Awindra Pratap Pandey. There were six others in the bus, including the driver, all of whom raped the woman and beat her friend. Thirteen days after the assault, she was transferred to a hospital in Singapore for emergency treatment, but died from her injuries two days later.

18.    Sheena Bora, an executive working for Mumbai Metro One based in Mumbai, went missing on April 24, 2012. In August 2015 Mumbai Police arrested  her mother Indrani Mukerjea, her stepfather Sanjeev Khanna, and her mother's driver, Shyamvar Pinturam Rai, for allegedly abducting and killing her and subsequently burning her corpse. Rai and Khanna confessed to the crime, and Mukerjea has said that Sheena Bora is alive and is in the United States.

19.   A sting operation is primarily a secret operation carried out by undercover agents to unveil criminal. Around the world sting operations are being conducted by the law enforcement agencies and media organization to apprehend criminals and wrongdoers. And here, India is no different. There have been many successful secret sting operations in India that have been carried out by different agencies over the years. Listed below are top 10 sensational cases of sting operation in India.

Tehelka Operation West End: (2001)

20.One of the most infamous sting operations in the history of government of India is the “operation West End” carried out by Tehelka magazine in 2001. The operation was carried out to expose the deep rooted corruption in India’s Defence ministry. Many arms dealers and defence ministry officials were caught on tape accepting bribes. The expose led to the resignation of Defence minister George Fernandes from his post.

India TV’s casting couch expose: (2005)

21.It was probably the biggest shock to the Indian entertainment industry when India TV exposed actors Shakti Kapoor and Aman Verma allegedly involved in seeking sexual favours for struggling actors. India TV in a sting operation sent an undercover agent as struggler to the aforementioned, who were caught on tape seeking sexual favour from the reporter. This sting operation even marked the emergence of India TV in mainstream media.

Star TV exposes of Manu Sharma in Jessica Lal murder case: (2006)

22.  Sting operation by Tehelka magazine first and later by Star TV played a significant role in conviction of Manu Sharma in model Jessica Lal’s murder case. After Manu Sharma was set free when witnesses turned hostile, the aforementioned agencies carried out a sting operation in 2006 to expose how witnesses were persuaded to speak in favour of Manu Sharma. The tapes played vital role in getting the case reopened, which finally led to Manu’s conviction.

NDTV exposes Sanjeev Nanda: (2007)

23.   Sanjeev Nanda, son of former Navy Chief Suresh Nanda was allegedly drunk when he drove his BMW  through a police checkpoint on January 10, 1999 running over and killing six people, including three policemen. Sanjeev would have been left scot free if it wasn’t for a sting operation by NDTV which showed how Sanjeev’s lawyer R K Anand tried to persuade the prime witness to change his statement.

Tehelka sting operation in Naroda Patiya massacre case:( 2007)

24. Online magazine Tehelka with journalist Ashish Khaitan as the undercover agent carried out a sting operation titled ‘Operation Kalank’ in Gujarat, wherein they secretly recorded on camera confessions of various 2002 Gujarat riot accused along with three three Naroda Patiya massacre accused boasting of their misdeeds. The CD worked as evidence in court against the three accused in Naroda Patiya massacre. 

Cash for votes sting operation: (2008)

25.  CNN-IBN carried out an undercover sting operation in 2008 to expose the cash-for-votes scandal, in which the Sonia Gandhi led UPA allegedly bribed other party MPs to survive a confidence vote in Parliament. Cash for votes’ scandal really rocked the parliament and was made certain through a sting operation by CNN-IBN, which showed on tape Amar Singh aide giving money to a BJP MP. The BJP MPs waved money around the Parliament alleging that they were bribed by UPA to cast vote in their favour during the confidence vote on Indo-US nuclear deal.

Villagers carry out sting operation on six cops: (2012)

26. Just last year some vigilant villagers in the jurisdiction of Kshipra police station in Indore used their mobile phone to carry out a sting operation to expose police officers taking bribe. The villagers caught six cops on camera extorting money from the villagers. The incident shook all corners of the country and raised a question “if cops are involved in taking bribe, then who is going to stop corruption”.

Young girl bursts women trafficking nexus: (2012)

27. A young Bihari girl, Soumya Pratheek along with social activists Rachel Morgan and Manish Swarnkar (all working for rescue and rehabilitation of women forced into prostitution) carried out a sting operation to expose a women trafficking nexus in Forbesganj in Araria district of Bihar. The sting showed on camera how girls were being forced into prostitution, which forced the police to act and rescue about a dozen girls and arrest some pimps and other involved in the nexus.

Jindal group’s Zee news expose: (2012)

28.  Following an FIR lodged by Congress MP and Jindal Steel Chairman Naveen Jindal and a sting operation done by the Jindal Group on Zee group’s editors, two senior Zee editors were arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly demanding Rs 100 crore to drop the news report accusing Jindal and his company for alleged involvement in the coal block allocation scam. 

CobraPost sting operation:   ( 2013)

29. The online magazine Cobra Post, over a period of several months, conducted a sting operation on three big banks – HDFC, ICICI and Axis alleging how these banks are involved in channelling huge amounts of black money into the banking system as laundered white money. Employees of these banks were caught on camera offering to convert black money into white money.

Thank You