The Media Quixote

His remarks are fast earning the status of Katju-isms. Press Council of India Chairman Markanday Katju believes in speaking his mind and often runs foul of the media he is in a position to monitor. He has recently regretted, after about a year though, the remarks he had made about the “majority of media people” being of a “poor intellectual level.” Although his views seemed to be shared by many whose comments flooded the social media, journalist bodies bristled with righteous indignation and demanded an apology. Justice Katju held out, but recently has regretted these remarks with this particular face off being laid to rest.

More recently, Justice Katju has become something of a hero in the social media with his strong condemnation of the arrest of two girls from Palghar town for criticising the bandh following Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray’s death. He shot off an email to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan pointing out that under the Indian Constitution, freedom of speech is a guaranteed fundamental right. “We are living in a democracy, not a fascist dictatorship,” Justice Katju wrote urging Chavan to order the “suspension, arrest, chargesheeting and prosecution of the police personnel (however high they may be) who had ordered as well as implemented the arrest.” The chief minister did not respond and this provoked a second email where Justice Katju reminded him: “Silence is not an option for you in the matter.”

Justice Katju has taken up an important issue and one can only hope that it triggers a debate on the use of the social media and the rights available to those posting on Facebook, Twitter and other such sites. More so, as the absurd arrest of the two young girls shows, more and more persons making use of the social media are coming under pressure. It was not so long ago that a person was arrested for tweeting against the son of Finance Minister P Chidambaram! The government, through such arrests, is seeking to dissuade the young people who are mostly using the social media from critical comments, taking advantage of the fact that many of them are not fully aware of their rights.

Despite the deliberate criticism of Justice Katju in the so called mainstream media, he has been taking bold positions. For instance, he rose to the defense of the cartoonist Aseem Trivedi who was arrested on sedition charges. He also said that the policemen who arrested Aseem should be arrested.

All in all, an encouraging response.