Political science

1. Mr. Havlena’s Verdict : A Critical Analysis
Presented by
Dr. Md Rakibul Islam
Assistant Professor
AMU Centre at Jangipur, Murshidabad, WB.

2. Background
• In Czech Republic, crime reporters used to publish some sort of crime
report in newspaper everyday.
• Most of the newspaper readers loved to read crime report.
• They read it with passion.
• Why they love to read the reports passionately, nobody knows.
• Probably, for moral and legal edification/learning, or out of latent/hidden
criminality.

3. Continued…
• There was no holiday for crime report.
• Even on government holiday, the newspaper paper had to run/publish the crime
report.
• The reports based on crime cases were sometimes created; imaginary, or bogus
cases.
• Crime reporters simply dream up interesting cases on their own.
• Consequently, they’ve got a regular market among themselves for such bogus cases.
• They also bought and borrowed such cases from others experts in exchange of
cigarettes, money, and beer, etc.

4. Mr. Havlena and Crime Report
• Mr. Havlena was one of the best creators of imaginary criminal story.
• Havlena was the main protagonist in the short story “Mr. Havlena’s Verdict.”
• Havlena was a very odd loafer, bloated-looking fellow, all grimy.
• He studied law, but never got his degree.
• He, despite being a half-completed lawyer, was a talented creator of
imaginary criminal cases.
• He was a whiz (expert) on criminal and legal matters.

5. Continued…
• He could easily create colourful and outlandish criminal cases.
• Therefore, it was hardly possible to differentiate his imaginary cases from
real criminal cases.
• “He cooked up twenty-one criminal cases at one sitting, each one better than
the one before.”
• “The heavier the sentence, you understand, the more interesting and
complex the case.”

6. Continued…
• “Never have newspaper readers been so mesmerized by the crime reports as
they were when Havlena was churning out his fictitious cases.”
• “For every case Havlena thought up, he got what they called his court fee.”
• He usually served his imaginary cases in exchange of a beer, a set rate of ten
crowns, and a cigar, plus two crowns extra for every month of the
imprisonment he imposed.

7. Imaginary Case
based on
A Young Boy, Parrot, and Widow Woman
• One day Havlena thought up a case — not nearly one of his best, but up to
then none of them had got him into any trouble.
• But, this case got him into trouble and destroyed his career.
• Briefly, the case went like this: an old bachelor had a falling-out with a
respectable widow who lived across the courtyard from the old bachelor.
• Here, a parrot played a vital role between the bachelor and widow.

8. Continued…
• The old bachelor got a parrot and trained it to screech a slang language, ‘you slut’ to
the widow at the top of its voice.
• The widow sued the old bachelor for defamation of character..
• So, she (plaintiff) filed a suit against the old bachelor (defendant) for her
defamation.
• The district court punished and sentenced the old bachelor for 14 days
imprisonment because the defendant (old bachelor) had made the plaintiff (wodow)
a public laughing-stock, by means of his parrot.
• For such master-class criminal case, Mr. Havlena charged eleven crowns and a cigar.

9. Continued…
• The verdict of this particular case appeared in about six newspapers, with
different headlines, like
“In a Quiet Building, Landlord and Poor Widow and Parrot Charged,
and so on.”
• “But no sooner did the stories appear than each of these papers received an
official communication from the Ministry of Justice, to the effect that said,
Ministry wished to know the particulars of the defamation-of-character
case tried in district court, as reported in issue number so-and-so of your
esteemed journal.”

10. CONTINUED…
“The letters stated that the verdict and sentence in the aforementioned trial were
confused and contrary to law, in that the incriminating remarks had been uttered not
by the defendant, but by the parrot; that the evidence offered in the trial could not
be regarded as proof that the words uttered by said parrot applied solely and
specifically to the plaintiff; and, hence, that the remarks in question could not be
considered defamation of character but at the very most as disorderly conduct or
disturbing the peace, which could have been dealt with quickly by a reprimand
from the police, by duly imposing a fine, or by issuing a warrant to remove the bird
in question from the premises.”

11. CONTINUED…
• “Accordingly, the Ministry of Justice desired to know which district court had
handled the case, in order that it might initiate appropriate inquiries and so forth.
In short, it was a regular judicial scandal. “‘God, Havlena,’ the reporters railed at
their supplier, ‘you’ve done it to us now. Look, it says here that your ruling
against the parrot is confused and contrary to law!’ “Havlena turned white as a
pillowcase. ‘What,’ he screamed, ‘they’re saying that my verdict is contrary to
law? The Ministry of Justice has the nerve to tell me that? Me, Havlena?
Unbelievable!’ The reporters said they’d never seen a man so outraged and
offended. ‘I’ll fix them,’ Havlena roared, beside himself with fury. ‘They’ll see if
my ruling’s contrary to law or not! I’m not going to take this lying down!’”

12. CONTINUED…
• “In his anger and excitement, he proceeded to get drunk on the spot, and
then he took a sheet of paper and, for the benefit of the Ministry of Justice,
drew up an extensively-detailed legal disquisition in vindication of said
verdict.”
• Briefly, when negative opinion of Ministry of Justice was taken to the
knowledge of Havlena, he got angry, drew up a detailed statement to defend
the verdict given by the district court and sent it to the Ministry of Justice.
• But, it was not taken notice, simply rejected by the Ministry

13. Havlena’s fight
• However, Havlena was not prepared to accept this disgrace.
• He himself got a real parrot, trained it up and made it utter the words ‘You slut’ at
the old woman living opposite to his house.
• Initially, the woman was not offended by the words uttered by the parrot.
• But finally, Havlena tried his best to persuade her to bring an action against him
• He finally succeeded in his attempt as she brought an action for defamation of her
character.

14. Continued…
• When the case came up for trial, Havlena gave a long speech admitting all the
allegations against him in order to prove his ‘imaginary case’ as real one,
though dismissed by the court.
• Finally, the magistrate wanted to hear the parrot in the court.
• At the next hearing the parrot was brought to the court but the parrot
uttered the words ‘you slut’ towards all persons irrespective of sex.
• Therefore, it became clear that the words were not intended to defame the
woman.

15. Continued…
• Havlena strongly argued in the court, that it was his intention to defame her.
• But, the court found no reason in it and acquitted Havlena.
• Havlena went out of the court in anger, saying that he would file an appeal in
the High Court.
• But his appeal was also dismissed by the High Court and thereafter Havlena
was found wandering about the street like a lost soul.

16. Continued…
• “After that, Havlena seemed to vanish into thin air, although there are people
who say they’ve spied him wandering around the streets like a lost soul,
muttering something or other to himself. I’ve also heard that to this very day
the Ministry of Justice still receives, several times a year, an extensive and
fiery petition headed: Defamation of Character Committed by a Parrot. But
Havlena stopped supplying court cases to reporters once and for all, no
doubt because his faith in the justice system and the law had been badly
shaken.”

17. Imaginary Case and Yellow journalism
• Havlena sensationalizes the story in a way easily capture the public mind.
• It has become a general trend of reporting sensational criminal case in
newspaper almost everyday in our time in India.
• Purpose is to attract the reading public in mass level.
• Unfortunately, sensationalism is also being used by the digital media as an
editorial tactic to excite the greatest number of readers and viewers.

18. Continued…
• The biased news-report encourages manipulative impressions of events
rather than neutrality.
• Rather than making people aware of on-going real story around the world,
yellow journalism focuses on presenting an exaggerated, distorted and
perverted version of insignificant events.

19. Examples of Yellow Journalism
• Samsung and Apple court case - A story claimed that Samsung paid a $1.2 billion
settlement to Apple in nickels. The story originated as comedy, but an American
journalist published it as true.
• Baby Snatched by Eagle - This headline grabbed attention but the accompanying
video was shown to be a fake.
• World War I photo - The photo shows a man in front of a firing squad and the
caption said the man was an enemy spy. The photo was a fake and the
photographer was actually posing as the spy. It has since been used as a photo
from WWI I.

20. Continued…
• Prime Minister called a traitor - ABC News reported that Israel's Benjamin
Netanyahu called Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin a traitor; but, the report was false.
• Crazed woman chases Brad Pitt - The headline is an eye catcher but she was really
just running after him to take a picture.
• Spanish American War - Yellow journalism helped to push Spain and the United
States into war in 1898. The Maine, a US battleship, sunk from an explosion. Joseph
Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst published false articles about a plot to sink
the ship, thereby increasing tensions.

21. Conclusion…
• Media needs to strike a balance between fair trial and media trial, right to information and
right to privacy.
• The media is termed as the “Fourth Pillar” of Indian democracy. If it has been given such
status, it must also abide by the responsibilities that comes with it.