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Scribe has to disclose source, says law panel member

In the wake of sharp criticism by the media of a proposal in the Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2000 requiring a journalist to disclose his source of information on stories relating to terrorism, a Law Commission member said a scribe does not enjoy "any special right" in this regard.

"The media has over-reacted in its criticism of the bill" which seeks to replace the elapsed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), commission member N M Ghatate said.

Quoting a Supreme Court judgment in the Brassburg vs Hayes case in 1972, he said, "Journalists, like other citizens are bound to render assistance to an investigation of offences by disclosing the source of information in their possession".

"The bill requires anyone, including a scribe, to disclose his source of information, because the security, integrity and sovereignty of India is threatened," he said.

"After all the nation's interest is paramount," he said, adding that "neither in India nor in any other democracies like the United Kingdom and the United States of America, the press as a medium of expression or journalism as a profession has no special rights".

TADA elapsed five years ago amid criticism of being draconian and the new law has been suggested by the commission to contain the menace in India, the most terrorist affected country, he said.

PTI

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