KANGAROO COURT

• Recently, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) said that the Media is Running agenda-driven debates and Kangaroo Courts, which is not healthy for democracy.
• The phrase” Kangaroo Court” is used against a judicial system where the judgement against the accused is usually predetermined.
• It is a self-appointed or mock court set up without much premeditation for the purpose of delivering judgement arrived at in advance, usually in which the fate of a disloyal person is decided.
• This expression may have originated in Australia but it was first recorded in the US during the California Gold Rush of 1849.
• The Kangaroo Courts were common during the Stalin era in the Soviet Union, famous as the “Moscow Trails” of the Soviet Great Purge.

Trial by Media

• Trial by media is a phrase popular in the late 20th century and early 21st century to describe the impact of television and newspaper coverage on a person’s reputation by creating a widespread perception of guilt or innocence before, or after, a verdict in a court of law.
• In recent times there have been numerous instances in which the media has conducted the trial of an accused and has passed the verdict even before the court passes its judgement.
• Though the word media trial is not directly defined anywhere. But indirectly, this power is being given to the media under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.
• Article 19 of the Constitution of India provides freedom of speech to each and every person.

Implications of Trial by Media

• Concerted campaigns against judges, particularly on social media, and media trials affect judicial functioning.
• Ill-informed, biased and agenda-driven debates in the media on issues pending in courts are affecting justice delivery.
• New media tools have 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.
• Media has been successful in portraying events that have to be kept a secret.
• Media trials have caused wrongful portrayal of alleged accused and have acted as a helping hand in destroying their careers merely by the fact that they were accused, even though they have not yet been portrayed guilty by the court of law.

Way Forward

• Media should only engage in acts of journalism and not act as a special agency for the court.
• Though the media acts as a watchdog and brings us a platform where the people can know about the things happening in a society, it is important to know that this has only led to the whole of the world being biased against one community or a single person.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT