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Journalists jailed
for contempt of court
WSN Network
New Delhi: The Delhi high court has sentenced three journalists and
a publisher to four months imprisonment for carrying allegations
against former Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal in the Mid Day
newspaper. The journalists stuck to their stand that the law allowed
truth as a defence against contempt.
A Bench comprising
Justice R S Sodhi and Justice B N Chaturvedi said: ‘‘In view of the
fact that they neither seek an apology nor do they opt to argue (on
the quantum of sentence) and reiterate their stated stand which has
tarnished the image of the highest court, a four-month imprisonment
would serve the ends of justice.’’
The sentence was
however deferred in view of the Supreme Court order two days ago
directing the HC to grant bail to the Mid Day staffers if they were
sentenced to jail.
Prior to the
announcement of the sentence, the counsel for the journalists
spurned the Bench’s offer to argue on the quantum of sentence.
He maintained that
‘‘all the articles were based on truth and truth is an explicit
defence under the Contempt of Courts Act’’.
The four who have
thus been convicted and sentenced are editor Vitusha Oberoi, city
editor M K Tayal, printer and publisher S K Akhtar and cartoonist
Irfan Khan.
They were present in
the court when the sentence was pronounced and have been asked to
furnish a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each and two sureties of the
same amount for bail.
The staid premises of the court witnessed the unusual sight of
journalists holding a demonstration, carrying placards and gagging
their mouths in protest.
The sentence followed
the conviction which was announced on September 11, holding the Mid
Day staffers guilty for crossing the apex court-laid ‘Laxman rekha’
by publishing a series of articles in the paper alleging that the
orders passed by Justice Sabharwal in the high-profile Delhi sealing
case benefited the companies of his sons.
26
September, 2007
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