The Press Council of India (PCI) will challenge in the Supreme Court the Allahabad High Court order barring the print and electronic media from reporting on movement of troops.
The April 10 order came, following a report in The Indian Express on “un-notified” movement of troops towards the national capital which was subsequently described by the government as a routine exercise.
In a statement, PCI Chairman Markandey Katju said the High Court order was not correct. The media had a fundamental right under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution to make such a publication, as it did not endanger national security. However, a balanced approach had to be taken on reporting troop movement.
“The Indian Army is not a colonial army, but the army of the Indian people who pay the taxes for the entire defence budget. Hence, the people of India have a right to know about army affairs, except where that may compromise national security. The media did an excellent job in exposing the Adarsh and Sukhna scams in which senior army officers were involved, and they were well within their rights under Article 19(1) (a) to do so.”
No general prohibition
Justice Katju said reporting on troop movement near the Indian border or during wartime should be prohibited as that might aid the enemy and cause harm to the Indian armed forces by compromising national security. But there could be no general prohibition of reporting on all troop movements. Without going into whether the news report was factually correct or not, Justice Katju said there could not have been a valid prohibition of such reporting. For, the troop movement was not on the Indian border, nor did it occur during wartime.
Army should be respected and any news pertaining to it should be published in the interest of the nation and not for the cheap publicity or petty causes. Justice Katju himself have been admirer of the same when he was holding the higher office. Now its matter of wonder why he his thoughts have detoriated to such a level and leaving behind the matter of National integrity he advocates such views.......? for what?
I believe, even if it is legal to report troop movements, it is not suggested.
Assuming the troop movements are monitored by our adversaries, it would help
them to draw out patterns on the troop movements, like frequency, path taken,
time taken, etc which could affect the effectiveness of our armed forces during
combat situations. Exposing scams, is welcome and are need of the hour but troop
movements...I believe it would affect national security. Hence, media should
concentrate on issues like scams and should consider reporting only aberrations in
troop positioning, particularly when armed forces are positioned in a such a way
deterimental to our nation by the order of some corrupt politician or bureaucrat...
It'd also be wise on the part of Military to keep our media in loop on what and what
not to report... Of course they have to be wary of the spies cloaked as reporters....
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