SCt steps in to make peace between Kerala media, lawyers

The tiff between the media and the lawyers community in Kerala appears to have been resolved with the intervention of Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur who held talks with representatives of the journalists in the national capital on Friday.

While expressing concern about the issues between the two sets of professionals which saw things turning violent at Kochi and the Kerala capital in the past few days, the CJI asked his colleague Justice Kurian Joseph to sort out things with the acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court Thottathil B.Radhakrishnan.

Joseph had on Thursday itself had set the ball rolling, asking two senior judges of the Kerala High Court - P.N.Ravindran and P.R.Ramachandra Menon - to sort out things.

The issue began early this week after media reports that a government pleader had misbehaved with a woman. The lawyers claimed that the pleader was falsely implicated and police and media are hand in glove in the conspiracy.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, things went out of hand at Kochi, when clashes took place between the two groups, while a clash also occurred in the state capital on Thursday and Kerala Police by now have registered half a dozen cases.

Following the clashes, angry lawyers decided to close down the media rooms at the high court and at the Thiruvananthapuram district court.

Consequent to these unruly incidents, normal court activities got affected in the high court and at a few district courts but following the intervention of the senior judges who held discussions with the rival groups, things appeared to have cooled down.

"All the courts will function normally from tomorrow onwards (Saturday) as all the issues have been settled," Justice Ravindran told reporters after the conciliation talks held separately with the two groups in the state capital.

Journalists also expressed happiness that issues are being sorted out and a committee will now be appointed consisting of the media and lawyers to see that things go on smoothly.

Advocates at the Kerala High Court however denied media reports that at the deliberations held in Delhi, the Chief Justice has said the media room at the high court that was closed after the tiff broke out will be opened.

Meanwhile, the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in a statement issued in the state capital late Friday night said that he will preside over a meeting to be held at Kochi with representatives of the Kerala High Court Advocates Association and office bearers of the Ernakulam Press Club to find a solution to the issue.

--IANS

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