Delhi riots not Anti-Hindu, all communities felt the consequences: Delhi Court

The Delhi riots of February 2020 were not anti-Hindu riots as has been portrayed by certain news items and every community was impacted by the riots, a Delhi court recently observed (State vs Umar Khalid)..Considering a news item on "Anti Hindu Delhi Riots", the Court observed that while it was shown that the entire Delhi riots were "Anti-Hindu Riots", it was not the case at all.."In one of the news items, the news starts with words “Radical Islamist and Anti Hindu Delhi Riots accused Umar Khalid....”. The said news item portrays the entire Delhi riots as Anti-Hindu Riots. However, in fact this does not appear to be the case, as all the communities have felt the consequences of those riots," Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Karkardoma Court, Dinesh Sharma, said..The Court also said that the media had widely reported about accused Umar Khalid's confession to the police even though there was no clarification put out by the media outlets that such confessions are inadmissible in evidence. It is the duty of the press and media to "inform and educate" its viewers/readers that no such statement, even if made, could be used by the prosecution as evidence, the Court observed. .The observations came in an order passed by the Court while dealing with Umar Khalid's application claiming that even before the copy of chargesheet in a Delhi riots case was supplied to him, it was leaked to media..Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Karkardoma Court, Dinesh Sharma, said that reputation of a person was a valuable asset and a facet of his right to dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.."..none of the news item is shown to have made a clarification to its readers/viewers that such a statement, even if actually made, could not be used by the prosecution as evidence. A reporter should have such a basic knowledge of law as readers/viewers consider news item as true without verifying the facts. Further, general public might not be aware of the law as above mentioned. Therefore, it is duty of the Press and Media to inform and educate its readers and viewers about all the relevant facts and circumstances of a news item published or shown on the News channel," the Court said. .Reputation of a person is a valuable asset and a facet of his right to dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution and it is for the judicial system to decide the case on merits after trial, the Court made it clear. ."Any act of the Media which might deprive the accused of his dignity would have an adverse effect on his rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India. Therefore, any news item should be published after verifying and clarifying all the facts related to the said news item," the order said. .It was Khalid's grievance that various print and television media houses then ran news pieces showing that he had admitted to having conspired to fuel the North-East Delhi riots of February 2020 by involving children and women for chakka jaams. .Khalid submitted that he had never made any confession to any police official or any other authority and these media reports were in violation of his right to fair trial. .While disposing of the application, the Court acknowledged the menace of "media trial" but refrained from passing any specific directions in this regard. .It nonetheless hoped that "self-regulation" would be exercised by media houses. ."I hope that the reporters would use self regulations techniques while publishing or showing a news item related to a case pending investigation or trial so that no prejudice is caused to any accused or any other party. Self regulation is the best mode of regulation.", it said. .Interestingly, the Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Central government in a plea praying that a 'Media Tribunal' be constituted to hear and expeditiously adjudicate complaints against media networks and television channels.The plea claimed that Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Union of India, has totally failed in the discharge of its duties and enforcement of the Programme Code to which television channels are expected to adhere..It was also submitted the self-regulation of television channels have not worked and cannot be a solution to the problem of misreporting and fake news.