KATHMANDU: Senior-most justice of the Supreme Court, Ram Prasad Shrestha, who is heading a judicial committee against irregularities, today said that the media and the judiciary are two closed friends of democracy and should jointly fight autocracy in all its forms. “We had together fought against royal regime, therefore, we should stand together against any kind of autocracy and attack against judiciary and its independence,” he said, during an interaction with journalists. Shrestha said the image of the judiciary depends on how media portrays it before the public. Panel members — Justices Khil Raj Regmi, Girish Chandra Lal and Prakash Wosti — also spoke along Shrestha’s line of argument during the interaction programme with mediapersons. As part of the judicial reform process, Chief Justice Anup Raj Sharma has formed a panel with a two-month tenure to hold consultations with various stakeholders. Airing his view during today’s consultation with media, Shrestha, who is also an ex-officio member of the Judicial Council, said that the media had only been concentrating on exposing the judiciary without providing space for good works accomplished by it. However, applauding the role played by media during the reign of former King Gyanendra, he said that the judiciary had scrapped then Royal Commission for Corruption Control (RCCC) designed to detain leaders spearheading democracy movement. Speaking on the same occasion, justice Regmi urged the reporters to expose all those elements ‘polluting’ the judicial system. Justices Osti and Lal pleaded journalists to be objective in reporting news related to judicial processes.