Supreme Court displeased with media reporting in 2G spectrum case

The Supreme Court today expressed displeasure over the "distorted" reporting in a section of media relating to the second generation mobile telephony allocation spectrum scam and regretted that Prime Minster Manmohan Singh's name was unnecessarily dragged.

"The prime minister's role is being dragged unnecessarily. Everyone has his reputation," a bench of Justice GS Singhvi and Justice AK Ganguly observed.

"The media is not supposed to misrepresent the court proceedings. The name of the highest authority is being dragged," the bench said, while maintaining that it respected freedom of the press.

"We know that the print and electronic media play an important role in the society. They are to inform but distortions about the fact would not serve the purpose. However, what is going on is very unfortunate," Justice Singhvi heading the bench observed.

The apex court also referred to the cliches like "SC slams government." "We wonder what is the meaning of slam," the bench queried amidst laughter in the court hall.

Interestingly, senior counsel KK Venugopal appearing for the CBI and AR Andhyarujna for former telecom minister A Raja also complained that the media was conducting a parallel trial causing prejudice to the accused.

"Nobody is an accused, "Justice Singhvi snapped at the submission.

Venugopal also complained that the counsel appearing in the matter was going to the media and briefing them about a subjudice case.