Katju deplores demonising Muslims

• Demands more teeth to PCIA
• Urges youth to join his 'Court of Last Resort'A

Hyderabad: Taking a dig at the India Judicial system, Press Council of India (PCI) chairman Markandeya Katju said that it fails to provide instant justice to the aggrieved parties. Delivering a lecture at a symposium on 'Reporting terror: How sensitive is media' on Sunday, he said, "I agree that there are many people, particularly Minorities, Dalits and socially backward classes, who have been languishing in jails for years together as under trials. I thought we should have a forum like that of the US which deals with cases of official and social negligence, with the sole aim of helping the under trials who were wrongfully jailed and later convicted, I started an NGO called Court of Last Resort". He said that he believed it should have branches wide across the country and help people get justice. He requested the youth to join hands with the NGO and strengthen the effort. Explaining further on his initiative, Katju said, "Court of Last Resort will intervene in any case which is brought to its notice and apply for bail, clemency etc. My whole effort is to see that all people should have access to justice." Lamenting that the government has not provided enough teeth for the PCI, Katju said he met the Prime Minister in 2011 soon after becoming chairman and requested him to give more powers like admonition, imposing fine, etc, but could not get it till date. Lashing out at the media for the instant conclusions it tends to draw from terror attacks, Katju said, "Within minutes of the blasts, the media jumps to the conclusion that some Islamic terrorist outfit was responsible. They also claim that they have received an anonymous SMS from IM or Jaish or HUM or Lashkar owning the act. This is wrong and in this way, you are carrying a sense of hatred among the people by pronouncing the very names. Demonising Muslim community is atrocious. Media has to be responsible while reporting." Asserting that Pakistan is a fake country, Katju said the British had sown seeds of communal hatred. Pakistan was born out of this hatred. Fortunately we had visionaries like Nehru who advocated India to be secular in the most turbulent times.

PCI chief urged to change his T stand A Hyderabad: A Telangana Advocates JAC delegation led by its convener T Ranga Rao has appealed to Press Council of India (PCI) Chairman Markandeya Katju to understand the reason behind the demand for a separate Telangana and change his stand on the issue. The lawyers met Katju at a programme organised by the Bar Council of India here on Sunday and submitted a letter that contained all the information on the Telangana issue. It may be mentioned here that the PCI Chairman had remarked that the demand for Telangana was not in the interests of national unity as it will fuel similar demands elsewhere in the country. Members of the advocate JAC told him that the people of Telangana were hurt by his comments that appeared in the media a few days ago. "Your comments hurt the followers of Dr Ambedkar, who strongly advocated the formation of smaller states," the lawyers mentioned in their letter. The advocates made a mention of an article published in Economist that stated that the Telangana State, if formed would be larger than 16 existing states in the country. Intellectuals and people from various sections of the society are supporting the Telangana demand on rational, administrative and economic grounds, the JAC pointed out in their letter. Meanwhile, T Ranga Rao told The Hans India that Katju's response was that the comments were his own and too much should not be read into them.