There should be no “media trials”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday, while inaugurating the judiciary’s block in the new secretariat. The block will be used for the extension of the office wing of the Calcutta High Court.
Banerjee was speaking at the event organised to hand over a block of the state’s new secretariat building to the justice department. Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava, and two other senior high court judges were present at the event.
In her address, the chief minister also requested that pending cases be cleared at the earliest, and said that more women must be appointed as judges.
“Sometimes, it misleads and misguides, and gives a bad name, though the incidents are not true…So no media trial my media friends,” she said.
She emphasised the importance of the judicial system which goes deeper into details and considers evidence and witnesses. “Don’t go for (a) media trial. Don’t try to defame...Try to project the real news. It may be against me, I don’t care or mind that,” Banerjee said.
Stating that many people come to the High Court every day seeking justices, the chief minister called the judicial system “a pillar of democracy”. “Commoners wait for justice—which is never one-sided, and is always unbiased,” she said. “When a person loses faith everywhere, then his faith comes from the judiciary. That’s why, in a democratic country, judiciary, press-media, and democracy—the federal structure, our constitution, are very important. If one loses credibility, others lose the credibility (as well),” she said.
Published 25 August 2022, 15:21 IST