A Delhi court on Friday criticised the media for publishing alleged confessional statements of activist Umar Khalid in a case related to the violence in the national Capital in February 2020, without clarifying that his statements were not admissible as evidence, Live Law reported.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Khalid, stating that his right to free and fair trial was getting affected as sections of the media quoted selectively from his disclosure statement and falsely claimed them to be part of his confessional statement.
In an order passed on Friday, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Dinesh Kumar said that a reporter should have the basic knowledge that a confessional statement made to a police official is not admissible as an evidence and that a reader should be informed about that, according to Live Law.
“A reporter should have such a basic knowledge of law as readers/viewers consider news item as true without verifying the facts,” the order stated. “…None…