Hyderabad: A Telangana High Court judge has called for video clippings of debates on two Telugu news channels with regard to the case relating to the anticipatory bail plea of Kadapa MP Y.S. Avinash Reddy in Vivekananda Reddy murder case.
Justice M. Laxman, who granted anticipatory bail to the petitioner subject to certain conditions, observed that comments made by some of the participants in the debate amounted to contempt of court but left it to the Chief Justice of the High Court to take action.
The judge mentioned in his order attempts by selective media to thwart and derail the judicial process by making attempts to tarnish his image. He stated that attempts were made to intimidate and threaten to derail the independent thought process in arriving at a just decision in this matter.
He directed the High Court Registry to place the order and video clippings of debates of Mahaa News and ABN News of May 26 before the Chief Justice of the High Court to take appropriate decisions.
“The individuals of selective media facilitated and abetted by airing views of selective personnel of their choice with conscious knowledge of their antecedents to intimidate, to threaten and to damage my reputation by personal attack,” the judge observed.
Stating that he has the greatest regard for the press and news media which is the fourth estate and which is a forerunner in preserving democracy, he lamented that day by day, the reputation of ‘such an important institution is eroding but for some individuals.’
“One of the participants, who is a suspended and detained judge made a direct attack by saying “money bags went to Judge”. Other participants who seem to be holding a respectable office used derogatory language (“Cheyyendra”) and gestures which are aimed to tarnish my comprehension and competency abilities by his misinterpretation and misunderstanding of deliberations of Court proceedings,” reads the order.
“I am least worried about such attempts to tarnish an image since one’s image is indestructible and if such an image is prone to destruction, it is not an image at all,” he observed.
“All that concerns me is the inroads of such actions to damage the institutional image. It is high time to protect our image through concerted efforts. I am greatly hurt not by individual comments but by facilitation and abetment done by selective media. In my view, such actions clearly amount to the invocation of proceedings under the Contempt of Courts Act, but I desist from leaving it open to the head of the institution to take or not to take action. At one stage, I thought of recusal, but for the direction of the ApexA
“Court and remindful of an oath of office particularly ace discharge of duties without fear, I changed my mind.”
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