Taking exception to sections of the media “wrongly reporting” about court proceedings in the Jayalalithaa wealth case, the Karnataka High Court on Thursday asked the media not to go “overboard”.
“Whatever I read and have been reading — I noticed that many things that have not been said in the courtroom have been reported. This is a very sensitive case and media should not go overboard reporting it,” Justice C.R. Kumaraswamy, hearing AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa’s appeal against her conviction in a wealth case by a trial court, said.
Referring to some reports that said he “condemned” Special Public Prosecutor Bhavani Singh, the judge clarified that he only posed questions to the SPP who made submissions during the hearing of the appeal.
“I have been reading media reports in some newspapers. I have not at any point of time condemned the SPP, but only sought clarifications by asking him questions. Posing queries also does not mean I have made conclusions,” the judge said.
Justice Kumaraswamy is chairing the special bench formed after the Supreme Court had on December 18, 2014 directed the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court to constitute it to decide within three months on Jayalalithaa’s appeal.
The judge has been questioning Mr. Singh on several alleged irregularities raised by Jayalaithaa’s counsel B. Kumar in the disproportionate assets case against her regarding alleged accumulation of Rs. 66.65 crore of wealth disproportionate to known sources of income during her first term as Chief Minister between 1991 and 1996.
During Thursday’s hearing, Justice Kumaraswamy asked reporters covering the proceedings to stand up and sought to know the code laid down by the Press Council of India for them.
“Who are the reporters here in the court? Please stand up. Can someone in your group tell me the code laid down by the Press Council of India, which governs journalists for filing news reports,” he asked and said media should not go overboard in reporting the case.
Resuming the proceedings in post-lunch session, the judge recorded the submissions by Mr. Singh who read out the depositions of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption officials — Latika Charan, V.C. Perumal and Kadiresan.
Justice Kumaraswamy adjourned the matter to March 4 after Mr. Singh sought time for him to reply to the submissions made by counsel for the accused.
