The former Central Vigilance Commissioner, P.J. Thomas, on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court for a CBI inquiry into what he said were distorted reporting/telecasting of court proceedings in the case in which his appointment as CVC was struck down.
Mr. Thomas said he was aggrieved by the wrong interpretation of the proceedings and the judgment, particularly the telecast of defamatory and cooked-up news.
Some vested interests in the media had been making adverse publicity, referring to him as a tainted official. The proceedings were wrongly interpreted repeatedly, showing him as guilty before the public and that too without a trial which could not be allowed in a country governed by the rule of law, said the application filed through advocate Wills Mathews.
Mr. Thomas said the Supreme Court judgment did not go into the merits of the Kerala palmolein case but the media created a hostile atmosphere, accusing and showing him as tainted and the entire country, except those who were close to him either personally or professionally, believed that he was so.
His counsel had brought to the court's notice an “adverse and imbalanced campaign” by Times Now and he was asked to file an affidavit. He was aggrieved over a programme telecast by this channel on April 6, presenting him as one who shamed India.
The former CVC said there were more than 7, 83,000 hits on the Internet, describing him as tainted based on media reports. He said he had questioned the legality and validity of the March 3 judgment and his application was pending before the President. He also sought a direction to Times Now to produce a CD of all news telecast by the channel connected with the court proceedings on his petition, to initiate contempt proceedings against those found guilty and to frame guidelines for reporting of court proceedings.
