Journalists prevented by lawyers from covering legal proceedings at HC

Kochi: A group of lawyers on Friday prevented eight legal correspondents from covering Kerala High Court proceedings in Kochi, forcing the law enforcement agencies to throw a ring of protection around the scribes and lead them to safety.

The incident occurred on Friday afternoon when the correspondents, including three women journalists, were covering proceedings in the court of Chief Justice Mohan M Shantanagoudar.

Sensing the presence of media persons, a group of lawyers who assembled outside the court hall called two correspondents and informed them that journalists were not allowed to enter High Court premises, a journalist said. Scribes alleged that they were even threatened by some lawyers who were part of the team. When the scribes informed the matter to the Chief Justice, he directed them to meet the High Court registrar.

Media persons who reached the registrar's room under police security filed a written complaint against the lawyers, saying they had been threatened and prevented from carrying out their professional duty. The journalists were later safely taken out of the court premises under police protection. The legal correspondents said they went to cover the court proceedings following a safety assurance offered by the High Court authorities Thursday.

Earlier in July, a group of advocates had attacked media persons outside the Kerala High Court complex in Kochi, leaving some journalists injured. The lawyers had hurled abuses and threatened that they would not allow the reporters to cover the court proceedings.

A section of them even had locked down the media room in the court complex. Kerala Union of Working Journalists had alleged that the advocates resorted to violent protest against the media as they were provoked by its coverage of an alleged attempt by a government pleader to molest a woman in Kochi.