New Delhi, Sept 11(ANI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday urged media not to overstep its ‘lakshman rekha,’ so as to ensure a fair trial to the accused and honour his/ her right to defence, and said the postponement of publication of trial court proceedings could be ordered by the apex court or any high court only for a short duration, without infringing upon the contents of the report ordered to be published later.
Passing a constitutional principle to the effect, a five-judge bench headed by Chief justice S.H. Kapadia and comprising of Justices D.K. Jain, S.S. Nijjar, Ranjana Prakash Desai and J.S. Khehar observed that media’s right to freedom of expression was not an absolute right, and the journalists should not cross their ‘lakshman rekha’ so as to prevent contempt charges.
The apex court however stopped short of framing broad guidelines for reporting sub-judice matters, saying it cannot be done “across the board.”
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/do-not-cross-your-lakshman-rekha-sc-tells-media/
