Case against Manorama quashed; Media's responsibility to create awareness: HC

Kochi: The high court has quashed further proceedings and the case filed against Manorama before the Chief Judicial Magistrate court Kollam in connection with a report published on the irregularities in the import of raw cashew by the Cashew Development Corporation.

In his judgment, Justice P Somarajan pointed out that the media which is the fourth pillar of democracy instead of staying away from issues of public interest should give news entailing their merits and demerits to create awareness among the public and making them more dedicated towards their duties.

The Court assessed that the private petition was aimed at nullifying the sacred responsibility vested with the media and also a misuse of court proceedings.  The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) had conducted a quick verification in connection with the irregularities in the import of raw cashew by Cashew Development Corporation.

The vigilance found that the then corporation chairman and INTUC state president R Chandrashekhar and the then managing director K A Ratheesh were guilty.

The news report published by Manorama on this matter in January 2016 formed the basis of the complaint. The state government and Chandrashekharan had approached the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court on the basis of the report. Subsequently,  Manorama moved the high court seeking to quash further proceedings in the case.

The high court made it clear that the Manorama report was a truthful description of the investigation report submitted by the vigilance. K P Dandapani and Millu Dandapani appeared for Manorama.