Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Issue of media trials
Context
- In an ongoing case, the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties asked the Supreme Court to issue guidelines to regulate media briefings by the police to ensure fair trial.
- This has left the judiciary with no choice but to deliberate on binding directives to the police.
What is Media Trial?
- Media Trial is when various newspapers, magazines, television channels, social media websites interpret facts of a particular case and present them in front of the general public.
- In India, we have witnessed media trials in many cases where before the verdict of the Indian judiciary, the media channels frame an accused in such a manner that the general public believes him/her to be the person guilty of such offence.
- Media Trial is not prohibited in India, but it influences the views and opinions of the general public as well as judges and lawyers.
Issue of media trial
[A] For Police
(1) Investigation fouling
- In criminal cases that attract the most sensationalist media coverage, media attention is often drawn toward investigation and early trial stages.
- This makes the police a crucial source for the media and communication between the two institutions is often a starting point of the troubles of media trials.
(2) Unregulated divulgence of case details
- Leakage of information by police force and disproportionate reliance on this information by the media results in a public stripping of the rights that typically accompany a fair trial.
(3) Blow to procedural justice
- Most police departments do not have dedicated media cells, making officials of all levels authoritative sources of information and blurring the boundaries between an official and informal police account of events.
- As a result, the evidence-based narrative of criminal cases presented by the police to a court varies significantly from the account provided to the news media.
- This is detrimental for the persons involved in the case, and the justice system as a whole.
[B] For Judiciary
(1) Violation of the rights of litigants
- Reportage of this nature violates the presumption of innocence and the right to dignity and the privacy of suspects, the accused, victims, witnesses and persons closely related to them.
- They often face social ostracization and difficulties in retaining employment, making them vulnerable to crime and exploitation.
(2) Disharmony
- Police narratives are sometimes designed to achieve political goals, and the media’s ready acceptance of these narratives does little to prevent their insidious effects.
- Given the media’s ability to shape political opinion, law enforcement agencies are sometimes under pressure to selectively reveal certain facets of the investigation or to mischaracterise incidents as communal or systemic.
What should be the role of Media?
- Contextualization: Problematic news coverage of criminal cases arises when reporters absolve themselves of any duty to contextualise information revealed by the police.
- Verification of the facts: Media ethics extend beyond verification of facts to check its Authencity.
- Create public awareness: Apart from making sure that police narratives are accurate before making them public, reporters bear the burden of translating the significance of police versions in a criminal trial.
- Prevent mistrust in institutions: It is meant to protect, and contributes considerably to the public apprehension and mistrust in the system.
Why is news media being hyperactive?
- We should remember that the new media as an institution is NOT a not-for-profit organization.
- The negligence can be attributed to the changing nature of the newsroom , responding to deadlines externally set by competing social media accounts that now qualify as news.
Court directives and legal provisions
Ans: The Romila Thapar vs Union of India, (2018) Case
- Courts have repeatedly directed law enforcement authorities not to reveal details of their investigations, especially the personal details of the accused, before trial is complete.
- It calls for states to enact their own laws based upon social construct.
- The Ministry of Home Affairs issued office memorandum outlining a media policy over a decade ago, but this is of limited value given that ‘Police’ is an entry in the State List and thus falls primarily within the jurisdiction of State governments.
Way forward
- Uniform regulation: Government regulation is not uniform for print and television media and enforcement of these regulations, where it occurs, is slow.
- Prevent overt regulation: In any event, Government regulation of the media is problematic and likely to increase politicization of the press.
- Strengthening self-regulation: Self-regulation set-ups such as the National Broadcasting Standards Authority and Indian Broadcasting Foundation are membership-based and easily avoided by simply withdrawing from the group.
- Reconcile the public faith: It is now in the immediate interest of the media and the general interest of free press, that media institutions look inward to find an answer to what is essentially an ethical crisis.
Conclusion
- The media’s immense power to shape narratives regarding public conceptions of justice makes it a close associate of the justice system, bringing with it a responsibility to uphold the basic principles of our justice system.
- The media should feel subject to the obligation to do its part in aiding mechanisms that aim to preserve these principles.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Article 21
Mains level: Paper 2- Abortion rights
Context
Recently, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India delivered a significant order, clarifying that the right to a medical abortion that was available to married women could not be denied to unmarried women.
Background of the case
- The SC’s order granting permission to undergo an abortion was passed in the case of a petitioner who was in a consensual relationship, and whose partner deserted her.
- The Delhi High Court had denied the petitioner’s right to terminate her pregnancy.
- Rule 3B of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Rules 2003, lays down the categories of women who are eligible for termination of pregnancy up to 24 weeks:
- Survivors of sexual assault or rape or incest; minors; where there is a change of marital status during the ongoing pregnancy (widowhood and divorce); women with physical and mental disabilities, women with pregnancies in humanitarian settings; foetal “malformations” that have a substantial risk of being incompatible with life, or which, if the child is born, may cause it to suffer from a serious physical or mental handicap.
- The High Court found that the petitioner had not undergone a “change in marital status”.
- The SC found that prima facie, the High Court had been too restrictive in its approach, and that the term “change in marital status” should be given a purposive interpretation.
Three key judgments
- The Supreme Court in this casebased this finding on the 2021 Amendment to the MTP Act, which no longer restricts itself to an unwanted pregnancy between a “husband” and “wife”, but to a woman and her “partner”, by marriage or not.
- The Court relied on three key judgements:
- 1] The 2010 S Khushboo case, which recognised the legality of live-in relationships and pre-marital sex.
- 2] The 2009 Suchita Srivastava case, which recognised that a woman’s right to make reproductive choices is part of the “personal liberty” guaranteed under Article 21.
- 3] The 2017 K S Puttaswamy case, which reaffirmed that women’s right to bodily integrity is part of the fundamental right to privacy.
- The Court observed: The statute has recognised the reproductive choice of a woman and her bodily integrity and autonomy.
- Contrast with rights in the US: The SC’s order attains significance in contrast to the recent Dobbs decision in the US.
- Constitutional rights are interconnected: Unravel one and the entire edifice of protections could fall apart.
Conclusion
The Supreme Court offers hope that right to abortion won’t be restricted by a woman’s marital status.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: West Bank, Gaza
Mains level: Israel-Palestine Issue
India has termed Gaza violence as grave concern and called for immediate resumption of talk between Israel and Palestine.
Here we explain the roots of the Israel-Palestine conflict, the two-state solution and why it has not materialized.
What is the Israel-Palestine conflict?
- The land to which Jews and Palestinians lay claim to was under the Ottoman Empire and then the British Empire in early 20th century.
- Palestinian people —the Arab people from the same area— want to have a state by the name of Palestine in that area.
- The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is over who gets what land and how it’s controlled.
- Jews fleeing the persecution in Europe at the time wanted to establish a Jewish state on the land which they believe to be their ancient homeland.
- The Arab at the time resisted, saying the land was theirs.
- The land at the time was called Palestine.
- In 1917’s Balfour Declaration, the United Kingdom declared its support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine.
- Arabs resisted it which led to violence.
When did the migration begin?
- Some 75,000 Jews migrated to Palestine from1922-26 and some 60,000 Jews emigrated in 1935, according to a history published by the University of Central Arkansas.
- It adds that Palestinian Arabs demanded the UK to halt Jewish emigration, but the UK ignored such calls. There were violent incidents, leading to deaths of some 500 people.
- In 1923, the British Mandate for Palestine came into effect.
- The document was issued by the League of Nations, the failed predecessor of the United Nations (UN).
- The Mandate gave the UK the responsibility for creating a Jewish national homeland in the region.
- In 1936, the UK government, recommended the partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.
Issue at the UN
- In 1947, Britain referred the issue of Palestine to the UN, which came up with a partition plan.
- It put up two proposals. One, two separate states joined economically —the majority proposal— and, two, a single bi-national state made up of autonomous Jewish and Palestinian areas, the minority proposal.
- The Jewish community approved of the first of these proposals, while the Arabs opposed them both.
Israel declares independence
- In May 1948, Israel declared its independence.
- The Arab countries of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Egypt invaded the newly-declared country immediately.
- When the war ended, Israel gained some territory formerly granted to Palestinian Arabs under the UN resolution in 1947.
- It also retained control over the Gaza Strip and the West Bank respectively.
The two-state solution and why it hasn’t worked out
- The two-state solution refers to an arrangement where Israeli and Palestinian states co-exist in the region.
- However, such a solution has not materialised over the decades.
- As outlined in the beginning and in the briefly explained roots of the conflict, the two-state solution means two separate states for Israelis and Palestinians.
There are four main reasons why the two-state solution has not materialized by now:
[1] Borders
- There is no consensus as to how to draw the lines dividing the two proposed states.
- Many people say borders should have pre-1967 lines.
- In 1967 Israeli-Arab war, Israel captured Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Old City of Jerusalem, and Golan Heights.
- Israel is not willing to give up these gains. It returned Sinai to Egypt in 1982.
- Moreover, there is the question of Israeli settlements in West Bank.
[2] Question of Jerusalem
- Both Israel and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital and call it central to their religion and culture.
- The two-state solution typically calls for dividing it into an Israeli West and a Palestinian East, but it is not easy to draw the line — Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites are on top of one another.
- Israel has declared Jerusalem its ‘undivided capital’, effectively annexing its eastern half, and has built up construction that entrenches Israeli control of the city.
[3] Refugees
- A large number of Palestinians had to flee in the 1948 War.
- They and their descendants —numbering at 5 million— demand a right to return. Israel rejects this.
- The return of these people would end the demographic majority of Jews, ending the idea of Israel that’s both democratic and Jewish.
[4] Security
- Security concerns are also central to Israel as it’s constantly harassed by terrorist group Hamas that controls Gaza Strip.
- Hamas and other Islamist group in Gaza launch rockets into Israel time-to-time.
- Moreover, there are also concerns of Palestinians’ attack inside Israel.
- This year in March-April, at least 18 Israelis were killed in Palestinian attacks inside Israel.
- A total of 27 Palestinians were also killed in the period, including those who carried out attacks inside Israel. Palestinians too have their concerns.
- For Palestinians, security means an end to foreign military occupation.
Why the two-state solution is needed?
- Besides fulfilling the basic desire of both Jews and Arabs of their own states, supporters of two-state solutions say it must be backed because its alternatives are simply not workable.
- A single state merging Israel, West Bank, and Gaza would reduce Jews to a minority.
- At the same time, in such a state, Jews would be a significant minority which would mean that the Arab majority would be miffed.
Moral reasoning too for a two-state solution
- It says that the aspirations of one person should not be overridden for others’ aspirations.
- It’s a struggle for collective rights between two distinct groups of people.
- Jews are the global micro-minority with a very small piece of land to exist.
- Depriving Israeli Jews of a Jewish state or Palestinians of a Palestinian state would represent a subordination of one group’s aspirations to someone else’s vision.
Way forward
- India opines that long-term peace in Israel and Palestine can be achieved only through a negotiated two-State solution leading.
- This can be done with the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine living within secure and recognized borders.
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Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Electricity Amendment Bill
Mains level: Read the attached story
The government has tabled the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2022 in the Lok Sabha. This has drawn huge protests across the country, in states like Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Rajasthan, and others.
Electricity (Amendment) Bill
- This Bill amends the Electricity Act, 2003. The Act regulates the electricity sector in India.
- It sets up the Central and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (CERC and SERCs) to regulate inter-state and intra-state matters, respectively.
Key provisions under the Bill are:
- Multiple discoms in the same area: The Act provides for multiple distribution licensees (discoms) to operate in the same area of supply. The Bill removes this requirement. It adds that a discom must provide non-discriminatory open access to its network to all other discoms operating in the same area, on payment of certain charges.
- Power procurement and tariff: Upon grant of multiple licenses for the same area, the power and associated costs as per the existing power purchase agreements (PPAs) of the existing discoms will be shared between all discoms.
- Cross-subsidy Balancing Fund: The Bill adds that upon grant of multiple licenses for the same area, the state government will set up a Cross-subsidy Balancing Fund. Cross-subsidy refers to the arrangement of one consumer category subsidising the consumption of another consumer category. Any surplus with a distribution licensee on account of cross-subsidy will be deposited into the fund.
- Rules of Centre: The Bill specifies that the above matters related to the operation of multiple discoms in the same area will be regulated in accordance with the rules made by the central government under the Act.
- License for distribution in multiple states: As per the Bill, the CERC will grant licenses for distribution of electricity in more than one state.
- Payment security: The Bill provides that electricity will not be scheduled or despatched if adequate payment security is not provided by the discom. The central government may prescribe rules regarding payment security.
- Contract enforcement: The Bill empowers the CERC and SERCs to adjudicate disputes related to the performance of contracts. These refer to contracts related to the sale, purchase, or transmission of electricity. Further, the Commissions will have powers of a Civil Court.
- Renewable purchase obligation: The Act empowers SERCs to specify renewable purchase obligations (RPO) for discoms. RPO refers to the mandate to procure a certain percentage of electricity from renewable sources. The Bill adds that RPO should not be below a minimum percentage prescribed by the central government. Failure to meet RPO will be punishable with a penalty between 25 paise and 50 paise per kilowatt of the shortfall.
- Selection committee for SERCs: Under the Act, the Chairperson of the Central Electricity Authority or the Chairperson of the CERC is one of the members of the selection committee to recommend appointments to the SERCs. Under the Bill, instead of this person, the central government will nominate a member to the selection committee. The nominee should not be below the rank of Additional Secretary to the central government.
Other key provisions
- Tariff Ceilings: The Bill makes provision for “mandatory” fixing of minimum as well as maximum tariff ceilings by the “appropriate commission” to avoid predatory pricing by power distribution companies and to protect consumers.
- Tariff revisions: The amendment has several provisions to ensure graded and timely tariff revisions that will help provide state power utilities enough cash to be able to make timely payments to power producers. This move is aimed at addressing the recurrent problem of default by distribution companies in payment to generation companies.
- Payment security mechanism: The bill through amendments in Section 166 of the Act also seeks to strengthen payment security mechanisms and give more powers to regulators. It has become necessary to strengthen the regulatory mechanism, adjudicatory mechanism in the Act and to bring administrative reforms through improved corporate governance of distribution licensees.
Why is it being opposed?
- Provisions of the Bill are being opposed by a number of opposition-ruled states.
- It is being termed anti-federal in spirit.
- Power as a subject comes under the Concurrent List and it was the “the bounden duty or the mandatory obligation” of the Centre to consult the states.
Criticisms
- If passed in its current form it will lead to a major loss for government distribution companies, eventually helping to establish the monopoly of a few private companies in the country’s power sector.
- By bringing in more retailers or distribution licensees, the quality of service or price is not going to be any different.
How will these amendments help?
- Power freebie: The Bill comes at a time when there is a debate around freebies being offered by political parties.
- Discom crisis: Various state power distribution companies (Discoms) have not been able to raise enough resources to make timely payments to power generating companies.
- Empowering discoms: Empowering the regulator to be able to take calls on tariff revision and ensuring that the government freebies, even on electricity, should be through direct benefit transfer.
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