Calcutta High Court refuses to restrain news channel from telecasting interview of sitting judge

The Calcutta High Court on Monday refused to restrain a local news channel, ABP Ananda from broadcasting the interview of a sitting judge of the High Court [Sk Saidullah v. Registrar General, Calcutta High Court]..A Bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Rajarshi Bharadwaj, however, expressed that the channel should not telecast anything that could harm the image of the judiciary."We have full faith that Judge/Judges of this Court will have due regard to the Restatement of Values of Judicial Life while making any statement at any occasion. We also expect that the channel in the larger public interest, will not telecast or broadcast anything which may have adverse effect on the image of the judiciary," the Court said. .The Bench was hearing a plea seeking a directive to ABP Ananda, a Bengali news channel, to not telecast the interview of the concerned judge. It claimed that the interview was against the Restatement of Values of Judicial Life adopted by the Supreme Court in May 1997 and also the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct. West Bengal Advocate General SN Mookherjee submitted that nothing should be permitted to be telecasted that can affect the reputation of the institution. The primary concern, the AG said, is to protect the institution. The news channel, on the other hand, argued that the petition is based on assumptions and presumptions and that no restraining orders should be passed against it, as the same would prejudice its rights. .The Court noted that the petition doesn't actually disclose the name of the concerned judge or what issues he would be speaking about during the interview."Thus, we find that the petition is based upon mere apprehension with incomplete details. The petitioner has also failed to disclose his full credentials. Thus, no ground for granting the prayer in the writ petition is made out. Hence, we dispose of the present petition," the order stated..Advocates Achinta Bannerjee, Swapan Bannerjee, Amit Das, Suman Ghosh and Tarun Chatterjee appeared for the petitioner. Senior Advocate Ratnanko Banerji along with Advocates Arunabha Deb, Soumabha Ghose, Deepan Kumar Sarkar, Ashika Daga, Tiana Bhattacharya and Deepti Priya represented the news channel. .[Read order]