CJI calls for debate on social media impact | Economic Times

CJI NV Ramana on Wednesday suggested a debate on the impact of the social media noise on institutions such as the judiciary as such noise may not necessarily be reflective of what is right but may put the institution under a lot of stress and pressure.The CJI said the judiciary must be completely free of all pressures if it was to act as a check on governmental power. The judiciary cannot be controlled directly or indirectly by the legislature or the executive or else the rule of law would become illusory, he said.Judges, he said, cannot be swayed by the emotional pitch of public opinion which gets amplified by social media platforms. “Judges have to be mindful of the fact that the noise thus amplified is not necessarily reflective of what is right or what the majority believes in,” he said.“The new media tools that have enormous amplifying ability are incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong, good and bad, and the real and fake. Therefore, media trials cannot be a guiding factor in deciding cases.“It is therefore extremely vital to function independently and withstand all external aids and pressures. While there is a lot of discussion about the pressure from the executive, it is also imperative to start a discourse as to how social media trends can affect the institutions.”“This, however, does not mean that judges should dissociate themselves completely from what is going on,” the CJI said. He was speaking on “Rule of Law” at the 17th PD Memorial Lecture delivered on Wednesday.The CJI cautioned that the pandemic may be a pre-curser to a bigger crisis in the days to come and called for an honest evaluation of whether the rule of law had been used to ensure the welfare of all. He said that he didn’t want to give such an evaluation as he was bound by his post and temperament.