MEDIA WATCH
Narad
Justice Markandeya Katju, chairman of the Press Council of India, is at it again. This time the target is the Government of Bihar. Addressing a function at Patna University in late February, Justice Katju said that he had been told that most journalists in Bihar can’t write anything against the State Government and that those who dare to do so are “either transferred or harassed or even run the risk of losing a job”. Reporting Justice Katju’s speech Deccan Herald’s (1 March) correspondent Abhay Kumar noted that “the PCI chief’s remarks are not wide off the mark” considering what happened to a senior journalist of a Hindi daily in Patna who was shunted out for exposing a scam. Such is the fear psychosis, Abhay Kumar pointed out, that at least two vernacular dailies in Patna did not report Katju’s remarks against the Nitish regime. Katju himself was reported to have said that he had been informed that government advertisements were also being cancelled if adverse news against the government or officers were published. Deccan Herald in the same issue (1 March) carried another tantalising story. Remember the report that made big news concerning three Ministers were caught on camera watching some pornographic material on their mobile even when the Legislature where they were seated, was in session? The question is now being asked: was the private channel authorised to cover the proceedings right in focussing its attention on the Ministers and exposing them to public view? Was it using the permission given to it to cover the proceedings to sensationalise what it discovered, without seeking the permission of the Speaker? Justice Katju, incidentally, is on the warpath. He is beginning to realise that State Governments haven’t much faith in the Press Council of India. It will be remembered after the PCI chairman had written a letter to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra complaining of attacks on journalists. The letter went unanswered. In his third letter he recalled the Maharashtra Government’s silence and asked: “I had written two letters to you but there was no response from your side to either of them. Did I not even deserve the courtesy of a reply?” What kind of justice can an ordinary citizen expect to get from such a government?
In his earlier letter Justice Katju had written in pretty strong terms. He had said: “It is the duty of the state government to maintain law and order …. but it seems to me that your government is neither able to maintain law and order nor prevent attacks on journalists which seriously imperils freedom of the press. You are therefore requested to now showcause why I should not recommend to the President of India to dismiss your State Government under Article 356 of the Constitution since your government apparently seems to have failed to uphold the Constitution as it has failed to uphold the freedom of the press under Article 19 (1)(a). In reporting this The Hitavada (February 29) said that Katju has asked Chief Minister Chavan to reply within three weeks after which he would take “such action as is fit in the circumstances”. A frightening editorial in The Free Press Journal (February 25) is very revealing. Take this story. On the eve of the elections police seized a huge pile of currency notes worth Rs one crore in a private vehicle in Amravati. Adds the paper: “More shockingly, the police were told by none other than Raosaheb Shekhawat, the local Congress MLA and son of the President of India Mrs Pratibha Patil-Shekhawat that the cash was party fund sent to him for its distribution among the poor candidates in the poll”. The FPJ edit is to be read to be believed. It says: “While Bihar is fast losing its taint as a lawless state, Maharashtra seems to be doing everything possible to earn that tag”. Why? What is even more shocking is the revelation that Maharashtra’s Home Department did not want officers in charge of police stations in Mumbai to record in their official diaries ‘requests’ made by politicians to either not register an offence against someone under their patronage involved in a crime, or to go soft on the charges against that person”. So, what kind of justice can one expect to get in Maharashtra? Writes the FPJ: “This growing political corruption has also affected the police morale and functioning, not just at the constable level but even among the senior IPS cadre”. That says it all. Are we living in a civilized country or are we existing in a land ruled by crooked politicians hiped by thugs and gangsters for whom money alone counts?
