Media ousted from Thiruvananthapuram court room by lawyers

The efforts of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala High Court Chief Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar for peace between media and lawyers seemed to have failed with angry lawyers on Friday asking journalists to leave a court room here.

Since July 19, virtually there has been a ban on the media by the lawyers in several courts in the state including the high court.

"Me, another woman journalist along with other male journalists had come to the Vigilance court on Friday morning to cover the proceedings. When the court took up the case against State Industries Minister E.P.Jayarajan, a group of lawyers asked us to leave the court room. The judge hearing the commotion asked what is going on. Three male journalists had to suffer the wrath of the agitated lawyers," said a woman journalist present at the venue.

This incident has taken place when the meeting between Vijayan and Shantanagoudar last week had claimed to have resolved the faceoff between the media and the lawyers and promised that the media will not be stopped from doing their duty.

The Kerala Union of Working Journalists have condemned the act of the lawyers and have demanded appropriate action be taken against those who were responsible for the unruly incident.

State Congress president V.M.Sudheeran too demanded action be taken against the lawyers who were behind this episode.

--IANS

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