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Considering a news item on “Anti Hindu Delhi Riots”, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Karkardoma Court of Delhi observed that every community was impacted by the riots and they were not anti-Hindu riots as portrayed by some news articles and items. The court also observed that the media reported about the accused Umar Khalid's confession to the police but did not clarify the admissibility of such confessions. The court also held how it is the duty of the media to educate and inform the citizens about the rights.
Dinesh Sharma, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate while deciding the case said that the reputation of a person is a valuable asset and comes under the facet of right to dignity under article 21 of the Constitution. The order said that
"Any act of the Media which might deprive the accused of his dignity would have an adverse effect on his rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India. Therefore, any news item should be published after verifying and clarifying all the facts related to the said news item.”
On the other hand, the accused Umar Khalid who was arrested for allegedly conspired to fuel the North-East Delhi riots by involving children and women submitted that he never made any confession to the police. Furthermore, he even contended that these media trials were in violation of his fundamental right to a fair trial.
The court disposed of the application and “hoped” that the media uses self-regulation techniques before publishing a news item related to a piece of pending information to prevent prejudice against a particular party.
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