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Journalism of Courage
Minutes before the Supreme Court Bench led by Justice Markandey Katju was to pronounce its judgment on the Aruna Shanbaug case,the front portion of the room saw a sudden spurt of activity.
Copies of a CD showing visuals of Shanbaug on her hospital bed was being distributed to journalists by the courts officials.
The CD,part of the evidence called in,was screened in an open court on March 2. It showed,in the courts own language in the judgment,a 60-year-old Shanbaug on a hospital bed at Mumbais KEM Hospital featherweight,her brittle bones could break if her hand or leg are awkwardly caught,even accidentally,under her lighter body. Her skin is like papier mache stretched over a skeleton.
The Bench,also comprising Justice Gyansudha Misra,the only woman judge in the Supreme Court,did not make any formal mention as to why the CD copies were being distributed to journalists before the judgment was read out.
Judged by any parameter,Aruna cannot be said to be a living person and it is only on account of mashed food which is put into her mouth that there is a facade of life which is totally devoid of any human element, the judgment said.
As for the special screening on March 2,the court explains why.
We had arranged for the screening of the CD in the courtroom,so that all present in court could see the condition of Aruna Shanbaug. For doing so,we have relied on the precedent of the Nuremburg trials in which a screening was done in the courtroom of some of the Nazi atrocities during the Second World War, the court explained.
