The Hon’ble Supreme Court while passing a landmark verdict in the case of Election commission of India versus. MR Vijaya Bhaskar, on the 6th of May 2021, upheld the freedom of media to report all the oral observations made by lawyers and judges during a court hearing.
The Hon’ble two-judge bench of the Hon’ble supreme court was delivering the judgment in a petition filed by the Election Commission of India urging to prevent media from reporting the oral remarks made by the Hon’ble Judges in the court.
Subsequent to the instant petition the Hon’ble Madras High Court also stated that the election commission of India should be booked for murder for being responsible for the COVID-19 surge by not restraining the election rallies by the politicians.
However, the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the instant matter observed that the demand of the election commission of India to prevent media coverage of the court’s hearings is the exploitation of their fundamental right and two fundamental principles guaranteed under the Indian Constitution
- The first one is the right to open court proceeding,
- The second is the right to freedom of speech and expression.
Nevertheless, after considering the remarks made by the parties in the instant petition the Hon’ble Supreme Court bench consisting of Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice MR Shah held that the fundamental right under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India which provide the freedom of speech and expression extends to reporting judicial proceedings in the Hon’ble courts by the media.
