Back in February 2016, journalists were assaulted by lawyers in Patiala House when they tried to report from the court about Kanhaiya Kumar’s case (Kumar was in police custody at the time). The episode led to a furore in national media. Protests and solidarity processions were taken out, with many known faces from organisations like NDTV, The Economic Times, Indian Express, Catch and IANS coming out in support of the journalists.

A few months later in July, lawyers again attacked journalists, but this time there was barely a ripple of protest and the subject never entered the popular discourse. Why? Because the incidents didn’t take place in Delhi, but in faraway Kerala. Leave the national capital, and the importance enjoyed by the media sees a dramatic dip. 

For instance, did you even know journalists in Kerala face an uphill task when they have to report on court cases? In an unprecedented development, media rooms in Kerala courts have been shut to ‘tackle’ an ongoing tussle between journalists and lawyers.

It all started in July, when reporters were barred from reporting on government pleader Dinesh Manjooran’s alleged molestation case. The lawyers alleged that Manjooran was falsely implicated, then took to violence and shut the media out of the court rooms. Journalists were attacked and this was, of course, reported in the local media. The standoff continued the next day too, in the same court premises. On July 31, the Kerala High Court released a curious statement that on one hand said the media should report from open court proceedings, but on the other provided no assurance that the press would have access to judgements and court orders.

Despite caveats from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Chief Justice of Kerala Mohan Shantanagowdar earlier this month, the show of muscle power doesn’t seem to end. Kerala Union for Working Journalists (KUWJ) has filed a petition in the Supreme Court, demanding media rooms be made accessible again.

The most recent standoff between the lawyers and journalists is an ugly one. 

Since the media rooms remain shut (even though journalists are legally allowed to report open court proceedings), the media has taken to waiting in court rooms. On October 14, at around 11:30 am, a group of journalists following up on Kerala’s former Industries Minister EP Jayaraman’s vigilance case were waiting in court. When lawyers noticed them, they asked the press to leave. The journalists allege Judge A Badarudeen looked on while they first protested and then were dragged out, assaulted and abused by the lawyers.

Among the journalists were Prabhat Nair from The New Indian Express, Justeena Thomas from Manorama News and C P Ajitha from Asianet News. Nair filed a complaint against five lawyers, alleging assault. Thomas and Ajitha filed separate complaints to make the case against the lawyers stronger. Thomas recounted to Newslaundry what happened that day.

“When we saw Prabhat Nair from New Indian Express being caught by the collar, we told the judge, Justice A Badarudeen, that we were scared,” said Ajitha. “Ten policemen were then called who escorted out of the court premises. While that happened, the lawyers indulged in name-calling and abused us. Since we weren’t able to cover the court proceedings on E P Jayarajan’s case, we started giving live feeds from outside the court. As we were doing that, the lawyers threw bricks at us, but thankfully we weren’t hit and the bricks landed on a car.” 

At the police station, Thomas and Ajitha were advised by the Vanchiyoor police to be mere witnesses to Prabhat’s complaint. The journalists believe that because they were also adding Section 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman, which is a non-bailable offence) to their complaint, the police didn’t want a situation where there would be three separate complaints against the lawyers in question. Although Nair was able to file his complaint on the same day, the other two were registered four days after their submission.

The five lawyers –  Anayara Shaji (Secretary, Bar Council), Subhash B, Arun P Nair, Rahul L R and Rethin R – surrendered at Vanchiyoor police station and were immediately let go, according to the testimony of the three journalists. Speaking to Newslaundry, Thomas said “the police was on the lawyers’ side”.

The lawyers union, however, has a different story to tell. Anayara Shaji, who has filed counter complaint, alleged that he was assaulted and threatened by these journalists. Shaji is the secretary of the bar council of Kerala and will be running for President in December. He alleged physical and verbal assault on these journalists 

According to Shaji’s complaint, the journalists not only obstructed him from performing his duty but one of the women journalists [Ajitha] also allegedly told him, “You bastard, I will trap you in a sexual harassment case”. This was followed by another alleged threat by Justeena who allegedly said, “If you obstruct our work, we will kill you leaving no proof for a case, you motherfucker.”

Shaji says journalists have forgotten the etiquette of behaving in a courtroom and court premises. “These journalists were told to vacate the courtroom when they were waiting in the vigilance court for the hearing of E P Jayarajan’s case,” he said. “Apparently, some of them were senior journalists and it hurt their ego when they were asked to leave. What vested interest do I have, as an advocate, in asking them to leave when they are not allowed in the vigilance court? The women journalists have filed a case under section 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman) which is non- bailable. I have been an advocate for about 30 years, I am the secretary of the bar council and I am running for President in December. I have never been trapped in a case like this before for hurting the ego of couple of journalists.”

Although no arrests were made in the counter case, the situation for Thomas, Ajitha and Nair has become increasingly difficult. On October 21, Thiruvananthapuram woke up to these posters/ banners/ flexes. 

The banner reads, “These media goondas who misbehaved in the court should be arrested”. There were similar posters being circulated on social media and WhatsApp.

“We were shocked to find out that misleading flexes were created and put up on the streets,” said Thomas. “Not just that, our pictures from our Facebook accounts were used to create WhatsApp forwards alleging that we were goonda journalists and we should be arrested. There are CCTV cameras around the city, the culprits could be easily caught but no action has been taken yet.”

Nair said the flexes were eventually removed by Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation. “No action has been taken in this regard except that the lawyers had surrendered to the police but they were released on bail immediately,” he said.

The journalists versus lawyers case has gone to the Chief Minister, Additional Director General of Police, the State Women’s Commission and Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala (from Congress). Kerala Women’s commission has taken cognisance of the matter and directed the state police to invoke Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act against the culprits who erected banners shaming these journalists.

The Chief Minister warned the lawyers that courts are not their private property and any attack on the freedom of press would be firmly dealt with. On October 24, he said in the assembly, “The problem was once settled after the intervention of Chief Justice of Kerala High Court. But some lawyers think that it was not applicable to them. If they still indulge in violence against journalists who go to court for reporting, government will take stern action against them”. He also added that the cases against both the parties would be probed.

Yet the standoff continues. Kerala Union for Working Journalists (KUWJ) has filed a petition in the Supreme Court on October 5, seeking media rooms in all courts to be reopened. The Supreme Court heard the plea on November 7. The Kerala High court told the apex court that media couldn’t reopen yet, in the wake of the ongoing tussle. The High Court has sought more time till November 21, to make a decision about reopening media rooms. 

Consequently, in Kerala, the press continues to be in a position where it can’t report on court cases – despite even the Chief Minister coming out in the journalists’ favour (on paper, at any rate). In The Newsminute, a website that is focussed upon news from south India, NP Rajendran wrote, “When court happenings are not reported, politicians have nothing to fear. In this case too, the hate campaign against the media is part of protecting the culprits who flaunt their powerful connections to walk scot-free, despite being an accused in cases of corruption and sexual abuse.”

Despite how serious an infraction upon press freedom this is, the situation in Kerala has barely been noticed by the national media. There were a few newspaper articles, but the English television media practically ignored the incidents even though local Malayalam news channels covered it dilligently. Perhaps it’s because the word “ban” isn’t being used or maybe it’s simply the effect of being far away from the national capital, but Nair, Thomas and Ajitha deserved a lot more support than they received from their fraternity.