To put the media in its place

I came across this rather video of Ram Jethmalani, being interviewed by Sagarika Ghose from NDTV . Now if you are like me, and are not well-versed with popular and notorious personalities, you might not have heard about Ram Jethmalani. This guy is a criminal lawyer, who is well known for taking up famous cases (quite notably among them - Harshad Mehta). This particular video is about the Jessica Lal murder case. To put it in context, Jessica Lal, an upcoming model, who was found murdered at a bar, in 1999. The chief suspect was Manu Sharma, the son of a high-profile politician from the Indian National Congress. Ram Jethmalani took up Manu Sharma's case inspite of popular public and media opinions that Manu Sharma was guilty. Here, he states his case as to why he took it up.

A lot of things to be noted about the whole manner in which this murder has been tried in the court. Initially, the court did a lousy job of analyzing the evidence. It was only due to public and media intervention, that the case was reopened, and evaluated carefully. That being said, where does the job of the media end ? Is creating prejudice something the press should do ? Where do we get unbiased jury members from ? Should the press try to bias the defending lawyer as well ? The "popular opinion" about Indian judicial system and the Law and Order system may not be good. However, the solution is not to subject people to public trials, media scrutiny, and completely lose faith in the judicial system. Have faith in the system, and if it fails you, then try to appeal within its limits! I don't think the solution is for everyone to turn vigilantes and add to the existing law and order issue.