SC puts on hold contempt order by HC against editor
NEWDELHI:THE Supreme Court on Friday put on hold the Meghalaya High Court’s judgment holding
editor Patricia Mukhim and publisher Shobha Chaudhuri guilty of contempt and fining them ₹2 lakh each.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi agreed to hear the appeal against the high court’s March 8 order that held the two guilty for publishing an article in December 2018 titled “When judges judge for themselves”. The HC had proceeded to direct the two journalists to sit in
The Shillong Times
a corner of the court until the bench rose for the day. The article was written pursuant to a high court order passed in December directing the government to amend rules so that spouses and children of retired judges become eligible for medical treatment. Justice SR Sen had also set aside the amendment to the rules that excluded protocol services and guest house facilities from being applicable to the retired judges and their spouses and children. The high court took up the case on its own in October 2018.
After the paper published the article, Justice Sen had on December 10, 2018 taken note and issued contempt notice against the editor and the publisher. According to the petitioners, the notice of motion was for civil contempt and the registered case also indicated that it was for civil contempt. Upon their appearance on December 13, the two petitioners offered an apology if the article offended the court. The judge declined to accept the apology and on December 17 referred the matter to the chief justice for its final disposal.
“The sacred duty of the media is to publish correct news, so that the actual fact reaches the people. They are not at all entitled to write as they like and slur the image of an individual or institution,” the court had held. NEWDELHI:ONCE the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has cleared a movie no authority can restrict its screening, the Supreme Court held on Friday as it directed West Bengal’s chief secretary, principal home secretary and Director General of Police to ensure the unhindered screening of the movie, Bhobishyoter Bhoot, a socio-political satire. The film was forced to be withdrawn from the theatres from February 16, a day after its release.
“A large number of decisions of this court have held that once a movie is certified by CBFC. .. it is not open to any authority to issue formal or informal directions preventing the producer from having the film screened as it directly infringes the rights under article 19,” a bench of justices DY Chandrachud and Hemant Gupta said, issuing notice to the state government on a petition filed by the director and producer of the movie.
The state’s chief secretary, principal secretary for the home department and DGP were directed to ensure proper arrangements of security to facilitate the screening of the film.
The court posted the matter for further hearing to March 25.
The film’s producers challenged the decision of the state government to direct withdrawal of the movie from almost all theatres on the ground that “that the contents of the film may hurt public sentiments...”