KOCHI: Expressing concern over the negative impact of prime-time Malayalam serials on society, Justice B Kemal Pasha has observed that it was high time the serials are subjected to strict censoring.
The Justice was speaking after inaugurating a workshop on ‘Court Reporting and Basic Law’ conducted by the Ernakulam Press Club, for journalists.
According to him, TV channels should restrain themselves from airing serials that could affect society. At present, the themes of most of the serials are about husbands and wives cheating each other, elopement, abortion and terrorism.
“The authorities of TV channels should understand the ill-effects of such serials on the public. Such programmes have viewers of different age groups, including housewives and children. I am raising my concern after receiving complaints on the matter,” said Kemal Pasha, and pointed out that there was nothing wrong in reporting the observations made by judges in open court.
He urged the media to take adequate care while reporting open court proceedings. He also pointed out that only the points and explanations that would be included in the judgement should be reported, and that observations/opinions of judges should not matter as readers might question if the judgement did not contain any of the observations. People should know what is happening in courts. He further stated that TV channels should be particularly careful while live reporting. Live reporting can cause adverse results. “An ideal example is the live telecast of the terrorist attack on Taj Hotel in Mumbai, which helped militants to understand how the police operation was progressing,” said Kemal Pasha, and pointed out that every citizen has the right to criticise judgements of the High Court, but the criticism should not be against judges as it would harm the judicial system.
The Justice is of the opinion that media trial would influence the final verdict of the court. Judges should be aware of what is happening in society. On the occasion, Advocate Sebastian Paul conducted a class on court reporting. He said restricting media from reporting court proceedings was not acceptable.