If asked to pick a beat and be a reporter again, I’ll opt for covering the lower courts first. Reason: there’s hardly a spot that yields such a bounty of stories as can the teeming Tis Hazari courts. The courts are located in a enormous, dank building close to the Delhi University. Now, the swankiest section of the Delhi Metro zips right in front of the courts. Tis Hazari has never failed. I have been able to access court files, be it CBI’s internal correspondence on the never-ending Bofors saga or how the Flex Chief, Ashok Chaturvedi was allowed to leave the country mid-trial were accessed. And never with money passing hands! Last month, I spent almost ten days in Tis Hazari attending proceedings in the courtroom designated to hear cases under the Official Secrets Act. Given the so-called sensitivity of these cases, doing the 50-meter trot from the police lock-up to the courtroom and trying to grab snatches of conversation with the men (and women) labelled ‘‘super spies’’ is certainly not a breeze. Their police escorts constantly elbow you out and since all proceedings are in-camera, you can only try and slip in unnoticed, and eavesdrop till the point the judge notices an intruder and asks you to leave. Stories like this one need research, plenty of photocopying and of course, good luck. Some lawyers help by obtaining certified copies of the innocuous hand-drawn sketches of Army contonments, which has kept people behind bars for years. Fortunately for me one day, a hearing was listed against two OSA accused, whose trial was stuck at the argument stage, 16 years after their arrest.
