‘Baseless claims erode public’s faith in justice delivery system’

Refrain from using the lsquodeadrsquo as a tool for showcasing political differences and gains as this does harm to the deceasedrsquos next of kin adversely impacts the public perception of the criminal justice system and derails the criminal justice processReacting to recent baseless claims concerning actor Sushant Singh Rajputrsquos manner of deathmdashby a person who was neither a subject authority nor had evidence to support his utterancesmdashconstitutional experts criminal advocates and psychiatrists say such talk does not come within the ambit of freedom of speech and unsolicited statements in the public domain should be included within the scope of contemptAdvocate Rajeshwar Panchal who practises in the Bombay High Court said ldquoThe Indian Penal Code IPC and Code of Criminal Procedure CrPC enjoin a duty on a person who is witness to a crime to inform the police If they fail to do so it is a punishable offence Therefore if anyone fails to come forward when the investigation or trial is going on and instead comes forward after they are over such a person himself should be prosecuted Such an act on his part amounts to interfering with administration of justice besides a crime under the IPCrdquo ldquoSuch an act also politicises the administration of justice and destroys the common peoples faith in the justice delivery system and also leaves the family kith and kin of the deceased with a feeling of the system having denied justice to themrdquo he addedAlso Read Sushant Singh Rajput death Mumbai Police did not allow Bihar Police to investigate says ExDGP Gupteshwar PandeyBe cautiousAdvocate Floyd Gracias Supreme Court counsel said ldquoArt 19 1 a of the Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to freedom of speech and expression However the same is subject to reasonable restrictions under Art 19 2 Citizens ought to be cautious as to the impact of their statements and ensure that the rights and freedoms of others are not infringed in any way nor is the greater common good compromisedrdquoldquoIt is also imperative that due diligence discretion and discernment be used while reporting news and stories so faith in the system at large is not diminishedrdquo said advocate GraciasNexusesAdvocate Shreeprasad Parab a constitutional expert said ldquoAs observed by the apex court in an earlier case there exists a nexus between media trial vs freedom of speech vs right to a fair trial Freedom of speech is not absolute and is coupled with restrictions applicable to media trials such as public order defamation incitement of offence decency morality etc Fair trial includes the impact of the news covered on the judicial officers and investigating team who are ultimately humans with emotions Criminal justice provides the presumption of innocence and the burden of proof is always on the person who makes allegations statements unsolicited comments etc which should not be taken lightlyrdquoHe added ldquoFreedom of speech as given under Art 19 is also linked with Art 21 freedom of life and liberty The right to privacy of the next of kin Rajputrsquos family in this case cannot be violated by using the lsquodeadrsquo persons circumstance of death as a medium of gaining undue mileage and publicity months after the investigating agency has shut the case and this does not give a licence under the ambit of freedom of speech to make any such unsolicited comments without any evidence and moreover such act adversely impacts the public confidence towards the entire criminal justice processrdquoDoubtful claimAdvocate Dinesh Tiwari who has been practising criminal law for two decades said ldquoThe manner in which the allegations are levelled in the matter of Sushantrsquos death that too by a junior staff after an omnibus initial silence raises doubt about authenticity of such claim Such hopeless claims leave no doubt that such claims are required to be discarded with contempt But it has the effect of eroding the confidence of the public in general in the investigating mechanism of the police as well as the criminal justice system Therefore it is high time that we disregard and discourage all such attempts made by some unconnected and unqualified persons It also needs to be highlighted that such unwarranted claims raise anxiety in the next of kin of the deceased who already suffer because of the untimely demise of their loved onerdquoMumbaibased Ramon Magsaysay Award winner and psychiatrist Dr Bharat Vatwani said ldquoThe fact that the Rajput matter has received so much press coverage reflects the fault lines within Fourth Estate outlets themselves Nobody puts themselves even for a minute in the shoes of relatives After a drawnout controversy the relatives had just about achieved emotional closure regarding the loss of their loved one and the plausible causation behind it It is no small feat to overcome the loss of a young and healthy loved onerdquoldquoBut now here comes the unfortunate overblowing of the assertion of a single unknown unimportant irrelevant insignificant person skyhigh by the press And the wounds within the psyche of the relatives lose their flesh once more to start festering perhaps irreparably again My heart goes out to the relatives This is not done simply not donerdquo said Dr VatwaniPsychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty echoed similar concerns saying ldquoIn an atmosphere of angst and an era of fragile relationships where TV channels are competing for eyeballs and eardrums the motivated statement that Rajput died of mysterious circumstances is mischievous This should be investigated and the people behind it arrested Many minds among the youth in India whose relationships hang by a thread are brittle and they will get severely distressed leading to copycat selfharm behaviourrdquoldquoDeath by suicides has increased by 17 per cent in the past two years across India The situation is precarious This statement again will reignite flames that have been doused by the CBI which stated that the death was due to mental health issues Many TV channels are blowing this out of proportion with an irresponsibility that can be termed criminally destructive The families associated with the actor need to be provided psychosocial support as the wounds that were slowly healing have been stabbed by this statementrdquo said Dr Shetty