G.L Khajuria
It was ‘Edmund Burke who coined and remarked the press and the newspapers as the Fourth Estate of realm and regarded as the most powerful of all the estates, the other being the lord spiritual, The lord’s temporal and the commons. The power of press has been utmostly regarded and recognized by the world’s renowned scholars, statesmen through the ages. In the same vein. President Roosevelt defined the four most essential human freedoms et.’al Freedom of speech and expression (Fourth Estate), freedom to worship God in one’s own religion or way, freedom from want and lastly freedom from fear and amongst all these the first one (Freedom of speech and expression) is in the top slot and occupy its unique placement albeit with passage of time its empowerment has slightly been diluted under the accruing power and pelf and more so due to the intolerance of political pressure or certain ailed aberrations.
Rightfully as thus ‘John Milton’ has – quoted, ‘Pen is mighter than sword, as the single rightful stroke of pen can make or mar the destiny of the masses. It has a vide spectrum and impacts the minds of readers, public opinions are formed and their destinies reciprocally get moulded by the power of press apart from public awareness about news and views and as such forms a cohesive linkage with the public on all fronts.
Press in India came under the purview of Article 19 (1 ) A and Article (1 )G of the constitution which guarantees ‘the right to freedom of speech and expression to all its citizens and this freedom has been prudently interpreted by the courts to include though of course, the Parliament enunciated in its first amendment Act in 1951. Thus imposing reasonable restrictions on the exercise of freedom of expression in the security of the state, the friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality or in relation to contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence, but at the same time the Press Council of India which came into existence on July 4, 1966 provided relief and safeguards to the freedom of press from undue encroachment.
The press plays a pivtol role in the transformation of destinies of nations is evidenced if we take a glimpse of the world history when the writings of great thinker and philosophers revolutioned et al, voltaire whore writings brought French Revolution. Karl Marx, Lenin, Rousseau brought Russian Revolution and talking of home India, Swami Dayanand, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Mahatma Gandhi, Dr, Radha Krishnan and Jawaharlal Nehru’s mighty writings brought laurels and then Guruji Rabinder Nath Tagore was first ever noble laureate of his writing skills.
In a healthy democratic set up lies the four pillars of strength et. al Executive, Legislature, Judiciary and the Freedom of Press and if any incredible attempt is ever made relating to intimidation, its pillars are liable to collapse in the arbitray. In legal parlance, Justice Patanjli Shastri has rightfully observed in Romesh Thapers’s case which goes, “Freedom of press lies at the foundation of all the democratic organisations, for without free press or political discussions, no public discussions or public education can be so essential for the healthy setup and functioning of the popular Govt.”
The freedom of press has, of-course, lifted the cloud of ignorance by vastly widening the human mind by way of lighting up of its multitudinal horizons to a larger extent and this freedom propagated and enacted in vide, varied-ramification to unprecedented scale. The newspapers play a constructive role in its entirety listening to hoi polloi in their wider interest. But ironically, of course certain newspapers succumb to yellow journalism thereby defeating the very spirit and sancity of this noble and the most pertinent source of information and these include romanticism, vulgarity, rumors and mudslinging which warrant to be nipped in the bud.
Whereas the public at large is the basic custodian of the freedom of press as the watch dogs are those who man it and as such the public stands to hold the basic responsibility of preserving and defending the platform of freedom in the realm of public and its genre. This can boost and give fillip to milch the virtual freedom of press to its corrective conclusion and any on toward-ness must not be mis-constructed in any manner or fashion. This is the true essence of freedom of expression lie press media without propensity and prejudice and this way alone the press can prove to be the best connoisseur for the public in unison.
Scrupulously however, some press persons and journalists recall with trepidation the black days when internal emergency was clamped down in this country by our late premier Indira Gandhi by way of gagging it and wrapping up all its forms of dissent. It was, defector, an ugly interregnum of the fundamental freedoms bestowed by the constitution and perhaps the worst victim of this serious onslaught was ‘Shanker’s Weekly’, a favourite cartoon magazine of Pt Nehru and yet another onslaught to the freedom of press loomed large on the most leading paper “The Hindu” at the peak of its 125th anniversary on the day of 7th November, 2003 by a decision taken by the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly against the newspaper alleging breach of legislative privilege. This de facto, was the biggest assault on the freedom of press which offshooted a mass upsurge in almost all parts, of the country with the result that even the Apex Court’ of India endorsed it as a suppression of the bold voice of the India is having an active: print and electronic media and reports reveal that there are more than 55,780 newspapers and other allied periodicals as on the, date -of apart from the radio broadcastings and audio visuals include the dailies, Weeklies, fortnightlies monthlies and annuals in “English, Hindi, Urdu and other multi lingual versions of different states of India. ‘Conclusively, therefore if is added that the bygone rule “might is right” does hold no good in the modern civilized world. Victories gained in battle or war are far too of importance than the stroke of pen which cultivate the destiny of individual in particular and the entire nation as a, whole. In a sense, the press has superseded the sward under the banner of freedom of expression to protect the rights particularly, of those ones who stand at the cross-roads of the most heinous and depressed section so that we can see India the strongest democracy of the sub continental viewpoint over the globe.
(The writer is a former Dy. Conservator of Forest, J&K)