SC blasts media on coverage of the case

The Supreme Court today lashed out at the media for going overboard and "irretrievably" damaging the image of the Talwar family in the sensational Aarushi murder case.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday lashed out at the media for going overboard and "irretrievably" damaging the image of the Talwar family in the sensational Aarushi murder case.

HT Image

"Irretrievable damage has been done to the couple who lost their only child. This is unthinkable in a democracy," a three-judge bench of Justices B N Aggrawal, V S Sirpurkar and G S Singhvi observed, while hearing the multi-crore UP provident fund scam allegedly involving some judges.

The apex court lamented the media has converted itself into a "super investigation bureau" for reporting cases.

It maintained the judiciary would, however, not be influenced by such reporting.

"Media must know that it does not affect judicial minds," the bench observed during the five-hour-long arguments in the provident fund scandal.

The Ghaziabad Bar Association, besides two NGOs, have filed petitions before the apex court seeking a probe by an independent investigating agency including registration of FIRs against the judges for allegedly syphoning off provident funds belonging to Class IV employees.

"If some high profile person is involved in some case you (media) will carry the show the whole day," the bench observed.

The apex court gave vent to its anger on the media when senior counsel and constitutional expert Anil Divan cited certain media reports in the scandal to buttress his arguments.