Shashwati Chowdhury
Published on: June 4, 2022 at 17:31 IST
According to Apex Court Judge Justice Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala, social and digital media in India must be mandatorily regulated in order to preserve the rule of law under the Constitution.
ardiwala gained national attention after a Supreme Court Bench dismissed Nupur Sharma’s plea to club all FIRs filed against her for her remarks that she made about the Prophet Mohammed.
The vacation bench of the Supreme Court’s harsh criticism of Nupur Sharma, saying that her “loose tongue has set the entire country on fire,” has drawn fierce criticism from some corners and has been attacked by the faction that supported the former BJP spokesperson.
Crossing the “Lakshman rekha” (boundary) using digital and social media platforms for “personalised, agenda-driven attacks” on the judges was dangerous, according to Justice JB Pardiwala.
Debates and some uncharitable remarks about the judges have sparked from the Top Court’s observations.
The Judge stated and used the Ayodhya land dispute case as an example that “social and digital media is frequently used in India to politicise purely legal & constitutional issues, which cannot be classified as a mature and informed democracy.”
To preserve the rule of law under our Constitution, mandatory regulation of digital and social media is needed in this country.
Attacks on our judges for their judgments will result in a perilous situation where the judges will need to give more attention to what the media thinks than what the law actually mandates, according to Justice Pardiwala, who was just elevated to the Supreme Court. This ignores the sanctity of respecting the courts and puts the rule of law on the burner.
The Judge was speaking at the second Justice HR Khanna Memorial National Symposium, which was organized by the Confederation of Alumni for National Law Universities and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow and National Law University, Odisha (CAN Foundation).