HC initiates contempt against 2 media houses

 

Srinagar, Sept 6: The High Court has initiated criminal contempt proceedings against “The Hindu” newspaper and “ETV Bharat Varsh English” news portal for publishing the administrative court work.

 

The Division Bench of Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Rahul Bharti initiated the criminal contempt proceedings against the publisher and Editor of both media houses for circulating the “fake news” with regard to administrative court work.

 

The bench due to incomplete record submitted by the Registry posted the matter for further consideration on September 12 and asked it to place on record the newspaper item as also the particulars of Managing Director, publisher and editor of the two media houses by next date of hearing.

 

“…the matter with regard to taking up criminal contempt proceedings with respect to publishing of a news item came up for consideration before the Chief Justice (A).

 

The Chief Justice (A), upon consideration of the matter, was pleased to direct taking up of contempt proceedings against the publishers of “The Hindu” newspaper and directed listing of the matter before this Bench”, read the order.

 

The Court on September 3 had taken serious note of a news item published in The Hindu with regard to working of the court proceedings and directed the matter be placed before the Chief Justice for initiating criminal proceedings against the publisher of the newspaper.

The news items under the caption “NIA, Heabus Corpus cases shifted from Justice Atul Sreedharan headed by double bench in J&K, Judge goes on leave” was published in “The Hindu”.

 

It was alleged in the said news items that the roster of cases pertaining to NIA and PSAs were shifted midway from the bench headed by Justice Sreedharan to new Division Bench in Srinagar wing of the High Court.

 

Court has already clarified that at no point of time, NIA petitions were heard by any special bench and for the first time in order to expedite these matters, the NIA matters were considered as separate as being the matter of liberty and treated as separate subject matter so that these matters be dealt speedily and expeditiously and termed the factual aspect given by the social media and newspaper as false, malicious and contemptuous by saying the same as interference with administration of Justice.

 

Under these circumstances the court had directed the Registrar Judicial to place the matter before the Chief Justice for initiating criminal proceedings against the publisher of the newspaper “The Hindu”.