Court open to all, says Dr Sebastian Paul

ALAPPUZHA: Senior lawyer and media critic Dr Sebastian Paul said that the courts in the state had been functioning as a private office due to the absence of journalists from courtrooms. He was speaking to reporters after releasing the logo of the All India Forward Block Facebook group at Alappuzha on Tuesday. "If the court is open, then public and journalists should have access to it. The faith in the courts has been diminishing by the day due to the ban on journalists in court. Judges and eminent advocates should realise the situation and take it up as a seriously."

"A section of advocates in the state are up in arms against me for not supporting the media ban," he said. He said that the central government's move to control the media would bring be detrimental to our democracy. During Emergency, people had experienced the taste of gagging the media."So that kind of situation will not arise again."