USE OF ‘MARTYR’ WORD: HC DECLINES URGENT HEARING

The Delhi High Court on Friday declined to give an urgent hearing to a plea seeking directions to the media to refer to the deaths of armed forces personnel as martyr or 'shaheed' instead of terming it as a killing. The petition was mentioned in the afternoon before a bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice C Hari Shankar by a lawyer, who is also the petitioner, seeking that it be heard on Friday itself.

The bench declined to list it for hearing during the day and chastised the lawyer, Abhishek Choudhary, for insisting that the matter be listed on Friday, saying "it is already 2.30 pm and you want us to burden a judge to hear it when there is no urgency in the matter." "This is not a plea seeking bail. Someone's liberty is not at stake. Not today. It will be listed on Monday in normal course," the court said.