In his decision to challenge the gag order pronounced by the Allahabad high court on reporting any news related to the movement of troops issue in the supreme court, press council of India chairman justice Markandey Katju has earned two brownie points. One he said something right after a long time. But more importantly, he is doing what he should be doing, perhaps for the first time. As the PCI chief, it is his job to take up the cudgels for the media.

While justice Katju’s decision marks his own coming of the age (touch wood, it continues), the episode also exposes the Indian media’s vulnerability and its inability to stand up for its own cause. The turn of events lay bare the shallowness of every stakeholder in the episode.

A habitual petitioner (Lucknow-based Nutan Thakur) files a frivolous petition in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court sounding false alarm about a news report threatening the country’s security. The report in question is the April 4 The Indian Express report titled “The January night Raisina Hill was spooked: Two key army units moved towards Delhi without notifying Govt”.

The petitioner believes that reporting on the subject, “if permitted to continue, may seriously interfere with the handling of security matters by the army” and takes the onus of safeguarding the interests of a sitting-duck Indian army from the diabolic clutches of the media’s ferocious newshounds on herself. 

The court can’t agree more. It bans reporting of “any news item by the print as well as the electronic media” regarding the movement of army troops, maintaining that this is “not a matter of the kind which should require public discussion at the cost of defence official secrecy and the security of the country”.

The bench directs the secretary, home affairs, and secretary, information & broadcasting, government of India, and the principal secretary (home), government of Uttar Pradesh, “to ensure that there is no reporting/release of any news item by the print and electronic media, namely the movement of troops”.

While on various matters of national concern, for example, making night shelters during winters, the government has not been able to comply with the supreme court’s orders for years despite repeated reminders and warnings; in this matter, the government displays exemplary promptness. On the very second day, the information & broadcasting ministry issues an advisory to all “private satellite TV channels” to “strictly follow” the high court’s order.

There is no hue and cry. Not a single voice of protest from the media. Not even basic questions are asked or simple arguments put forward. The fourth pillar of India democracy doesn’t even think of challenging a court’s ill-conceived order. The PCI chief does.

“With great respect to the High Court, I am of the opinion that the order of the High Court is not correct. The media has a fundamental right under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution to make such publication, as it did not endanger national security... The Press Council of India will be challenging the order of the Allahabad High Court in the Supreme Court of India very shortly,” Katju said in a statement on Thursday.

“The Indian Army is not a colonial army, but the army of the Indian people who pay the taxes for the entire defence budget. Hence the people of India have a right to know about army affairs, except where that may compromise national security. The media did an excellent job in exposing the Adarsh and Sukhna scams in which senior army officers were involved, and they were well within their right under Article 19(1) (a) to do so,” he said.

While the office of the PCI chief taking up the media’s cause is not unusual, though in Katju’s case, precedents might make it look bizarre; the media industry not rising in its own defence is worrisome. It is question we need to ask ourselves.