Section 36(4) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 states that in any proceeding before a Labour Court, Tribunal or National Tribunal, a party to a dispute may be represented by a legal practitioner with the consent of the other parties to the proceeding and with the leave of the Labour Court, Tribunal or National Tribunal, as the case may be.

Thus, representation of a party by a legal practitioner can only be with the consent of the other party to the proceedings and with the leave of the Tribunal.

If the workman raises an objection for appearance of a practicing Advocate on behalf of the employer, then in view of the provision of Section 36, the practicing Advocate could not be permitted to appear on behalf of the employer.  

The Industrial Disputes Act was enacted in the year 1947 the Trade Union movement in this Country was in its infancy. The Legislature had visualised the legal battle between two unequals. On the one hand, the Trade Unions with scarce resources could not be pitted against the mighty employers, who had all the wealth at their command. They could hire the best lawyers at the Bar while the Trade Unions and/or workmen were likely to not have any trained persons to defend them. Their leaders had no necessary legal training and knowledge of Court functioning. The lawyers who had professionally acquired law training were rarely available for the Trade Unions and workmen who could hardly afford their fees. In order to bring about and maintain fairness and equality, the Legislature provided under Section 36 of the Act how the parties would be represented in the proceedings under the Act. The parties, of course, could themselves appear in their own litigation. A legal practitioner is permitted only with the consent of the other party in the proceedings and with the leave of the Labour Court/Tribunal or National Tribunal as the case may be. It was left to the other party and also to the discretion of the forum before which the proceedings were instituted. The underlying principle of this section is just and fair trial.

However, over the last 62 years, the Trade Union movement has long crossed its age of infancy. Today, excellent Trade Unionists are available who have acquired knowledge, legal acumen and skill to defend the working class in the proceedings under this Act. Very often these dedicated and reputed trade Union leaders are more than a match to even the best of the practitioners before the Labour Court or Tribunal or National Tribunal. Similarly, there are experienced office-bearers of a number of Trade Unions who have also acquired rich experience in the field of legal knowledge.

In view of the present business scenario and the increased entry of foreigners in this area, would it be a fair and an equal fight between a powerful Trade Union represented by a very seasoned, senior and experienced Trade Union representative or a leader against an ordinary small /foreign employer if he is not assisted by a legal practitioner? The Trade Unions are professional litigants. Since the employers are not, they are required to engage the services of legal practitioners to represent themselves in the legal battle. If they are prevented from engaging legal practitioners as against the powerful representatives of the Trade Unions it would not be a fair, just and equal trial of the strength between the two.

Since there has been a considerable change in the circumstances, both in the industrial and legal sector, the utility of such a law in today’s times need to be revisited. There is no dearth of decent legal practitioners available now even for the workmen or Trade Unions. Lawyers' services are nowadays available to all those who can pay a reasonable remuneration. A lot of advocates represent the cause of social justice. It would therefore be unreasonable and unfair to deny the same opportunity to the employer.

R.J. Kochar, J in the matter of T.K. Varghese Vs. Nichimen Corporation, reported in 2001 (4) Bom C R 168, stated that “Moreover, the provision of Section 36 has given rise to formation and floating of bogus paper organisations of employers who engage and appoint some legal practitioners as their so-called office-bearers to circumvent the provisions of Section  36 as such "office-bearers" are permitted to appear in industrial proceedings with legal authority. The result is that very good legal practitioners are appointed as "office -bearers" of the employers' organisation or even as the employees of the employers to appear for the members-employers to circumvent the objections of the Trade Unions/workmen. To face the situation successfully, the employers like the Respondents are compelled to enroll themselves as the members of such organisations to be able to be defended by legal practitioners who are the officers or office-bearers of such organisations.”

A recent decision of the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court overruling the Court’s earlier stance to the contrary in the case of Bhagat Brothers , decided in LPA 212 of 2008 echoes the observations of Justice Kochar wherein they state “It would be totally unjust to deny the legal community access to this field and the Courts and the Tribunals would face great handicap if they do not get proper assistance from the legally trained persons in their decisions which finally land in the higher Courts.”.

Further, one must also appreciate that in view of judicial review by higher courts , appeals and other judicial remedies, such industrial matters most of the time, if not always, end up in High Courts or higher up. There is no protection similar to section 36 available to the workman when it comes to the fight in the appellate forums. Thus, such partial protection also does not make sense, especially since usually there is a huge difference in the ability and affordability between the legal practitioners at the tribunals and the ones at the High Courts and/or Supreme Court.

In view of the above, in my humble opinion, its time for an amendment to section 36(4) of the ID Act.

The consumer awareness in India is still at a nebulous stage. The Consumer Protection Act was legislated in 1986 and consumer disputes redressal forums erected pursuant to the Act. However, the practice and procedure followed in these forums id perhaps not what was intended bythe legislature.

Section 13 (3A) of the Act states that every complaint shall be heard as expeditiously as possible and endeavour shall be made to decide the complaint within a period of three months from the date of receipt of notice by opposite party where the complaint does not require analysis or testing of commodities and within five months, if it requires analysis or testing of commodities:

It also provides that no adjournment shall be ordinarily granted by the District Forum unless sufficient cause is shown and the reasons for grant of adjournment have been recorded in writing by the Forum and costs to be awarded as a deterrent measure.

          In practice, however, final and conclusive adjudication by the forums within the prescribed time period, has almost never been heard of. The reasons. The usual problems which plague the civil courts leading to long delays and a burden of backlogs. Resultantly, the consumer disputes redressal is sluggish and ineffective. The system, contrary to the wise intentions of the law, ends up playing into the hands of the market mal-practitioners necessitated by greed and the consumer in fits off fury and frustration.

The clear divide between the legislative intention and actual justice dispensation procedure and practice  continues to remain unaddressed.

If the system wakes up to deliver on time, needless to mention that more and more consumers would seek redressal of their disputes. The system, once it functions in a more civilized fashion, would bring in more matters to the legal practitioners specializing in this branch of law and in these forums. More importantly, the legal system would be more professional in its response as required in this service sector. Needless to mention that on one hand when we are opening the doors of this country inviting more foreign business into the country, a country with the lofty goals of being a superpower in the near future, necessarily needs to relook and rebuild a civilized redressal mechanism which has more credibility in practice.

Legal Service

The legal services market in India has been growing steadily and is currently pegged at USD 300 mn. The increase in demand for paralegal lawyers has led to a growing interest from foreign entities. According to different market research firms the total offshore legal market would reach $4 Billion by the year 2015. Deals like Rio Tinto, Linklaters are the perfect examples of the growing offshore demand of the Indian lawyers. what according to you guys are the under current and the status of this industry and where do you think would this reach in the near future.

I would also try to give my insights for the issue of the entry of the foreign firms in India very soon.

Devesh Gupta

Manager Legal

Choir de Law Pvt Ltd 

Lawsuits from asbestos exposure in many countries is a big issue. People who have been exposed are able to sue manufacturers who knowingly sold products that could result in a deadly cancer called mesothelioma. The fact is that these companies, and the government, knew about the dangers of asbestos as far back as the 1920's.

Basically the whole world has agreed that asbestos is very bad and can result in lung cancer. India is the exception.

I found this bit of news interesting I found here:

"There is a political consensus in India to promote asbestos at any human cost" declares Gopal Krishna, after his country - joined by Canada, Russia and Pakistan - last month spiked the banning of crysotile asbestos under the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent.

Madhumitta Dutta points out that India based its refusal to join most of the rest of the world by claiming it has to await the result of a health study on asbestos impacts. However "India failed to inform the international community ...that the study was funded in part by the asbestos industry... Still worse, the study is kept under wraps and is not accessible to public health specialists or labour groups."

The fact is that there is a strong link between politicians and the asbestos industry. As a result, India is not acting like a responsible super power. Maybe soon they will reverse their decision, lawsuits will follow and the asbestos industry will die a slow death.

The last few days have been sadly violent ones, also for the legal fraternity. But in both cases so far not much is really clear.

Three days before the bomb blast in Pune's German Bakery, criminal lawyer and 26/11 defence counsel Shahid Azmi was shot dead in what appears to have been a targeted assassination.
Legally India's sincere condolences go out to his family and friends, as well as to the victims of the Pune attacks and their close ones.

Of course, for the papers the Azmi killing has been a perfect story.

A young idealist or "convicted child terrorist" with an alleged "outlaw" past, climbing out of poverty and prison to the top of the respected profession of law to defend alleged terrorists.
Cue a violent murder with options for conspiracy theories aplenty.

However, not much is clear so far, but for the significant emotion involved, particularly now with the untimely Pune attack.

Between three and four attackers (reports conflict there) on Thursday evening fired four shots to Azmi's chest and head from point-blank range after covert phone calls and preparation.

"He was bumped off for being 'anti-establishment' and 'anti-police'", reported DNA, quoting lawyers. The family also apparently blames the police. Then there are the suspicions of mafia involvement and a "patriot" gangster trying to make a name for himself.

The general public is divided.

On one hand there is the age-old antipathy directed at lawyers defending those the public does not deem worthy of a defence (or a fair trial).

In the comments on the Hindustan Times website, one reader writes: "Some body took care of Terror friendly lawyer...Give those guy Padam Bhushan", while another simply says "good job".

"Just deserts" writes another, followed by: "Brilliant. Melt pot trusts a former child soldier and convicted terrorist over the Indian Government and Police. I'll be honest, sleep will come easier to me tonight knowing that this 'man' is no longer at large", on the Times of India site.
Another on the TOI's site takes the opposite angle: "A clear indication of what awaits Ajmal Kasab [Azmi's 26/11 defence brief]. He will never get a fair trial in India."

Further investigations are undoubtedly necessary, as in any murder.
But with details and the motives of the killing so sparse, is it not too early to point fingers and allocate blame?

Surely, whether it was the underworld, shadowy powers up high or someone completely unrelated will make all the difference, as will the reasons of why it happened. 

Then again, the sad risk is that no one will ever truly know and speculation and finger pointing will be all there will be.

Today's new angle in the story is that lawyers are up in arms about the security allocated to advocates acting in dangerous cases.
"We have planned a meeting to discuss this serious issue. Shahid's death demands an urgent look into the security of lawyers who deal with dangerous cases, which at times doesn’t go well with certain section of the society," senior advocate Rohini Salian, who is special public prosecutor in the 2008 Malegaon blast case and general secretary of the City Civil and Sessions Court Bar Association, told the Indian Express.

What are your views? Is the security of lawyers taken too lightly in India?

A strong resolution

rolled down

from a cluster of tariffs

take your time

prohibit asbestos within the limits of the city

in a manner contrary

to the principles set forth

in promulgated paragraphs

but take your time

to speak about National Treatment of tear-glands

Legally Drawn is created by Vasanth Sarathy and is published on his blog www.legallydrawn.com

 A poem on how law students make a beeline for the Big Law and get CAUGHT.

DASAMAR CHANDMANGAL SWEETS:

Are law students an insect creed? 

‘DasAmar ChandMangal Sweets’.

Proclaims the shop; a proud tweet!

However, it is unhygienic.

Hyped flies get hyperactive

Over its over-sugary syrup.

On sugar they are hell-bent,

Of sugar jars they care.

They fall on the mithais; snared.

Wings and legs wriggle; the body unable to wriggle out.

Soon the dead flies make the air putrescent.

The blood and the smell

Attracts mosquitoes. They drink blood,

More blood. They get drunk.

And fall on the mithais.

And die a sweet death.

Noses pucker. A pyre is set

To eulogise the animals dead.

Lo! The fire! It attracts moths.

Wah! The insect creed!

Keeps the tweet, a proud tweet.

 
PS- Well... law students prepare well for the 'insect' tag...interning, publishing and inging a lot. ('Inging' is a new word invented by me...I hope you'll know what it means).

And if you are a thorough-bred insect and want to know how to make your internship turn into a PPO (Pre Placement Offer), please go ahead and support my marketing gimmick by clicking on the link.

This could be

The first poem about world trade

but such distinctions

would not suit

An occasionally foul-mouthed wretch

and it couldn't care anyway

It just needs a bottle, duty paid

to pass out on the muck of the night

***Disclaimer: the author holds a poetic license.***

Legally Drawn is created by Vasanth Sarathy and is published on his blog www.legallydrawn.com

Legally Drawn is created by Vasanth Sarathy and is published on his blog www.legallydrawn.com

We will be featuring his future cartoons on Legally India.

According to draft Overall Public Satisfaction (OPS), data compiled by the Magsaysay awardee Arvind Kejriwal-led NGO Parivartan as part of an initiative to promote people’s right to access information from government organisations. West Bengal is at the bottom of the heap, scoring just 6% in OPS while Karnataka tops the country in implementing the Right to Information (RTI) Act, scoring 55%..

There is no dispute that the Supreme Court and all other courts are public authorities under the RTI Act. Its a different issue whether the office of the CJI is a public authority or not. Even though two courts have held it to be so, final determination in the matter is still pending before the Supreme Court.

Chapter II of the RTI Act deals with right to information and obligations of public authorities. Section 4 of the Act mandates that it shall be a constant endeavour of every public authority to take steps to provide as much information suo motu to the public at regular intervals through various means of communications, including internet, so that the public have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information. For the said purposes, every information shall be disseminated widely and in such form and manner which is easily accessible to the public.

All the kinds of information enumerated in section 4(1) of the Act was to be published within one hundred and twenty days from the enactment of this Act. The Act was enacted way back in 2005. and thus the one hundred and twenty years have long gone by.

It appears that the Calcutta High Court, as it continues to decide matters relating to the Act, despite being a public authority, fails to disclose on its website the information as mandated by the Act.

And this blatant violation of the mandate of law stares at your face in the highest court of this communist state by the complete absence of the RTI disclosure mandated under the RTI Act, 2005.

There is possibly no reason to assume that the same agency (NIC) which has created and designed the websites of the Supreme Court and high courts and has created an icon/provision for the RTI therein has failed to display the said information inadvertently while designing the site. The said agency, NIC, obviously is not in a position to do so since it does not decide what information is disclosed.

A lot of questions to ask.

But who is the Public Information Officer of the Calcutta High Court?

The     High   Court   at  Calcutta, formerly    known  as   the High Court of Judicature at Fort William, was brought into existence by the Letters Patent dated 14^th May, 1862, issued under the High Court's Act, 1861.The High Court of Judicature at Fort William was formally opened on 1^st July, 1862, with Sir Barnes Peacock as its first Chief    Justice.  Appointed   on   2^nd   February, 1863, Justice Sumboo Nath Pandit was the first Indian to assume office as a Judge of the Calcutta High Court, followed by legal luminaries  such as Justice D. N. Mitter, Justice R.C Mitter, Sir Chunder Madhab Ghosh, Sir Gooroodas Banerji, Sir Ashutosh Mookerjee and Justice P.B. Chakravartti, whose judgments are still revered.

The Calcutta High Court has the distinction of being the first High Court and one of the three Chartered High Courts to be set up in India. It is the oldest High Court in India.

The seat of the High Court is Kolkata, capital of West Bengal. It also has a permanent Circuit Bench in Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The court has sanctioned judge strength of 58.

Countless Court officers and litigants flock the magnificent court premises every working day of this great institution. However, the said Court, unlike most of the Courts of a similar stature in India, fails to imbibe the latest technological advancements introduced in our justice delivery system.

NIC is a Premier Information Technology Organisation in India ostensibly providing “state of art Solutions” for information management and decision Support in Government and Corporate Sector. A number of Services are being provided by NIC to all the Government Ministries/Departments/States/Districts. NIC has created the websites of various courts across the country including that of the Calcutta High Court.

A plain comparison of the official websites of the Delhi High Court and the Calcutta High Court would show the number of services which are not available in the hallowed Chartered High Court of Calcutta .

 The website of the Calcutta High Court (http://calcuttahighcourt.nic.in/) does not inform the common litigant of the following:

The roster of the judges and the various determinations

It does not have a display board which informs both the advocate and the litigants regarding the Board as it moves in Court.

NIC, on the website of the Calcutta High Court, states inter alia its activities and the impact it seeks to create:

“List of Business Information System (LOBIS): It is about scheduling of cases to be heard by the courts on the following day. It enabled the Registries of Supreme Court and High Courts in eliminating manual process of Cause List generation thus any manipulation by vested interests. These databases contain details of fresh cases, disposed and pending cases. It is the backbone application of every Court.

Impact :

1. As Cause Lists are generated automatically by the computer manual intervention has been eliminated resulting in generation of Cause List in time with out any hassle
2. Cases are listed strictly in chronological order of date of filing; eliminated irregularities
3. All cases having the same law point(s) to be decided by the courts are bunched/grouped and posted before one bench. This has helped the courts in faster disposal of cases.
4. It has become simpler to recall dismissed cases when review petitions are filed.
5. On the spot reliable and instantaneous statistical reports are generated “

Curiously, the Calcutta High Court website fails to provide the Causelist for the Appellate Side. It only provides the Cause list for the Original side. Considering the limited Original jurisdiction of the Calcutta High Court, the website completely fails to reach out to the majority of the litigants of this Court. Similarly, the case status for the Appellate Side is also not provided. Unlike the Delhi High Court website, there is no provision for “judgewise orders/judgements” where one can find out the judgment and read its content when he either knows the name of the judge who passed the order and the date on which it was passed. Similarly, the judgments are not available in PDF format. The website is conspicuous by the absence of the facility to track applications for certified copies of the Court’s orders. The said department continues to languish in the age old system of corrupt monetary exchange and other irritating and disparaging motions of red tapism.

 As a common litigant and an officer of the Court having a pan India practice, it becomes extremely difficult to track cases listed in the Appellate side of the Calcutta High Court, procure orders , apply for certified copies, inform my Client as to the name of the Judge likely to hear a fresh matter, track matters and the next date of hearing together with orders.
I am confident that the said website does not convenience a vast number of advocates practising on the Appellate Side and even the Advocates on the Original Side who are not as privileged as their Delhi High Court counterparts. Considering that this noble profession in time has turned into a major service sector/industry with globalization, rise in international trade  and when we are debating only on the timing of entry and practice guidelines of  foreign law firms and not whether they should be allowed to practice law or not, the Calcutta High Court website fails to cater to provide the basic information to the majority of its Litigants and officers of its own Court.

The Times of India, on 14th December 09, carried a piece titled ‘Legalise Prostitution? Then Why Not Graft?’ by Dhananjay Mahapatra based on a recent observation by two Supreme Court Judges asking the Government if the worlds oldest profession could not be controlled, then why not legalise it. 

The author seemingly annoyed with the court's suggestion draws an analogy between prostitution and corruption based on the common ground that neither problems seem capable of solution. The author suggests that legalising the sex trade would be akin to letting those guilty of corruption go scot-free.

The piece can be found here.

Here is what I would have written:

 Supreme Court: Why not Legalise Prostitution?

Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes! This is exactly the kind of thinking we need!

As it stands today, the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act, has not been able to achieve what is was originally enacted to do – to check the illegal trafficking of persons for sexual exploitation. Instead what it has managed to do is make the unsafe environment, that commercial sex workers work in, more dangerous, it has allowed pimps and brothel keepers perpetrate acts of violence without fear of them approaching the police, it has allowed the police to repeatedly pick up sex workers and keep them in lock up, rape and violence is often reported. It has also made it difficult for sex workers to insist on the use of condoms.

Recently, a proposed amendment tried to bring in a new approach; one which proposed to penalize the customer. This has been tried in Sweden and unfortunately has not yielded successful results. Reports from Sweden show that the proposal has pushed sex work underground, made women feel more unsafe and there have been increased reports of violence.

It seems therefore, that there is clear evidence of what doesn’t work. A system which allows authorities to effectively check the trafficking of women and at the same time allows the improvement of the condition of women already working as sex workers, seems to be the need of the hour. Members of Parliament during the legislative debates in 1956 had observed that penalising the sale and purchase of sex would not eliminate prostitution. (Source: the Lawyers’ Collective)

Why then are we trying the same approach in different ways? The hon’ble judges’ propensity to try something new, more importantly with the recognition that the current law is not working, is vital and must be recognized and hopefully mirrored by the administration.

Activist groups have campaigned for either legalization or a decriminalization of the sex work industry. The approaches have their own pros and cons. What either of these approaches may allow however, is an increased regulation and scrutiny of red light areas and sex work in general. This could allow increased monitoring of and a reduction of violence on the women, presence of trafficked and minor girls in the brothels and would allow an all round improvement in the working conditions of the women. There is of course a worry that over-regulation would push the industry back underground thereby undoing any advantages of legalization or decriminalization.

New law and policy is needed and though comments from judges from the highest court of the land are an excellent starting point, there must be a consultative process, one which seeks to involve the views of commercial sex workers.  

In my last blog, I wrote about the disparities existing in our country and proposed a solution for the backward India by promoting Micro Finance, following the concept of Grameen banks and socialBusiness.

I thank everyone for devoting their time to my blog and sharing your opinions. In this blog, I will discuss about the concept of social business, Grameen Banks and will analyze the views portrayed by Noble Laureate Md. Yunus when he came to India to deliver a lecture at the parliament of India.         

As discussed earlier in my blog about the raging disparity in our country, what could be an effective solution to this problem? Anyone would suggest to develop these backward areas, but the key questions remains the same-how? Government plans have failed to make a significant impact in these areas due to various reasons, some of them being corruption and in effective administration. A new approach needs to be adopted. I think in case of government developing the life of these peoples why not give these peoples a chance to develop themselves and government may act as guardian just to check any malfunction.  “Social business is can be casually assumed as a business in which neither loss is suffered nor gain.” The investor always gets his capital back and in dividend enjoys the fruits gained by performing his social obligations.  In delivering the lecture at the parliament of India Md. Yunus identified the two main questions which  decides the fate of the social business theory. Any person reading about social business will think two questions:

·         Who would like to establish a company to achieve social goals rather than make profit?

·         Who would provide for the funds for setting up such a business which in this capitalist world will be perceived as irrational and impractical?

There are many institutions in the world who works for social cause. Apart from this the government itself can be an investor. Mr. Yunus laid emphasis on the importance of social business. There are many charitable institutions in the country, but the money from charity depends upon donations so it’s one way, social business is the tool to empower these charitable institutions to stand on their feet.

To generate income or to employ different techniques to become self sufficient institutions, but not a commercial profit making institution. The concept of social business is being followed all over in the world including our neighbor Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, practical approach of social business can be seen. Mr. Yunus has been able to tie up with many multinational companies. A French dairy company called “Danone” is working in partnership with Grameen bank as “Grameen-Danone” with the aim to reduce the malnutrition among the children. The company produces “Yoghurt” at extremely affordable prices for the poor section of Bangladesh and it is rich in all nutrients which is required by a normal child.  The owners of the company are self committed not to generate profit over their actual investment and the surplus profit is used to make the product more efficient and in other development plans of the company. The target of the company is not to make profit but to increase its market to such an extent as more number of children can be benefited.

Similarly a French water company veolia is working in partnership to provide safe drinking water in villages of Bangladesh. They have incorporated giants like Intel to form Grameen –Intel which works in improving "IT" in rural sector and improving health services and perhaps the most unique collaboration is with "adidas" Grameen-adidas which makes affordable shoes for every section of people in Bangladesh and their aim is to ensure that no one in Bangladesh walks without shoes.

These are some examples of social Business in real life. Multi corporate giants have blended themselves in the nobility of social obligations and the best thing is no one is at loss.

If Bangladesh can do it surely this concept can be applied in most backward states of country.

Comments and suggestion are heartily appreciated and invited.

Trial by Media is a phrase used to describe the impact of television and newspaper coverage on a person's reputation by creating a widespread perception of guilt regardless of any verdict in a court of law.

Trial by media is no where legal. There is no legal system where the media is given the authority to try a case. This slang is used for those high profile cases wherein the journalists present a pre decided picture of an accused and start spreading hatred amongst the general public which can ultimately affect the trial and the judgment. Thus, its called trial by media. Ruchika's case is a recent example of the same.

During high publicity court cases, the media are often accused of provoking an atmosphere of public hysteria akin to a lynch mob which not only makes a fair trial nearly impossible but means that regardless of the result of the trial the accused will not be able to live the rest of their life without intense public scrutiny.The counter-argument is that the mob mentality exists independently of the media which merely voices the opinions which the public already has.There are different reasons why the media attention is particularly intense surrounding a legal case: the first is that the crime itself is in some way sensational, by being horrific or involving children; the second is that it involves a celebrity either as victim or accused.

In India, trial by media has assumed significant proportions. Some famous criminal cases that would have gone unpunished but for the intervention of media are Priyadarshini Mattoo case, Jessica Lal case, Nitish Katara murder case and Bijal Joshi rape case.The media however drew flak in the reporting of murder of Aarushi Talwar, when it preempted the court and reported that her own father Dr. Rajesh Talwar, and possibly her mother Nupur Talwar were involved in her murder, thus reviving memories of JonBenet Ramsey murder, which was hauntingly similar. The CBI later declared that Rajesh was not the killer.Between September 2004 and March 2005, the media - print, audio and visual all wrote about His Holiness Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, a Hindu religious leader, suggesting his guilt in a murder case, but the High Courts of Madras and Andhra Pradesh and the Supreme Court of India repeatedly found that there was no material evidence to find him guilty and came down heavily on the media and the Government of Tamilnadu for misuse of government machinery.

So saying that media is responsible for ruining a person's prestige involved in some legal conflict. Is is entirely acceptable??