Brute Assertion of Power

The continuing violence by lawyers against journalists covering court proceedings in Kerala is a damning indictment of not just the legal profession, but also Kerala’s higher judiciary and the state government. The forcible removal of journalists from the courts for simply attempting to do their job cannot even be called a “ban,” given that the word denotes at least some element of authority being exercised. What we are seeing is a naked display of thuggery in the service of solely the personal interests of a section of the Kerala bar.

The immediate provocation for the sorry state of affairs is simply the reportage of the fact that a government pleader was arrested for molesting a woman in a public place. However, it has gone beyond that and has become an excuse for brute assertion of power by sections of the Kerala bar.