Bombay HC Chief Justice questions journalist over jeans, T-shirt

Mumbai: The Chief Justice of Bombay high court on Wednesday rapped journalists for not maintaining the “decorum of the court”, after a journalist was spotted wearing a T-shirt and jeans. Referring to the journalist clad in question, Chief Justice Dr Manjula Chellur asked whether it is a part of ‘Bombay culture’ to wear such clothes while covering court proceedings.

The judge then turned to the counsel for Mumbai civic body's S.S. Pakale and asked him if there was any dress code for journalists. After Mr Pakale responded in the negative, Justice Chellur wanted to know if wearing such attire to court was appreciated. The lawyer again responded with a “No”. The court, however, did not pass any direction or guidelines on dress journalists should wear while covering court proceedings.

As per court rules, a common man visiting the court is expected to be dressed properly as per existing social norms and not wear any obscene clothes. The top judge also chided the journalists for their coverage of the recent resident doctor’s agitation wherein media organisations had cited oral observations that were made in court rather than just reporting the final court order.

The division bench of Dr Chellur and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was hearing the case of doctors’ protest wherein the counsel pointed out that media reports had ascribed a quote to Dr Chellur wherein she had compared doctors to factory workers. Dr Chellur berated the journalists present for misreporting the doctor’s agitation and not maintaining any uniformity in their reporting of the issue.

“The oral observations  did not require to be reported. Journalists are expected to be judicious while reporting rather than sensationalising the news,” said a lawyer present in the court.