Lawfare – Contempt of Court, Journalists

NEW DELHI, April 2: The Supreme Court of India has quashed a contempt proceeding against The Shillong Times drawn by the High Court of Meghalaya in 2019.
In a significant judgment, the apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna on Wednesday dismissed the High Court’s order of contempt of court with direction of payment of hefty fine and shutdown or ban on The Shillong Times in case of default.
The SC bench also allowed the appeals filed by The Shillong Times Editor, Patricia Mukhim, and Publisher Shobha Chaudhuri, against the contempt order passed by the Meghalaya High Court in March 2019. The direction of payment of fine, and in the event of default a shutdown/ban on The Shillong Times have been set aside, and the contempt proceedings against the publisher and editor have been closed, the judgment said.
Earlier, the top court had stayed conviction of the Editor/Publisher in the contempt case and had also stayed the operation of the judgment by which the High Court had also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh each on the two accused.
Both the Editor and the Publisher were held guilty by the High Court after The Shillong Times published a few articles on the perks and facilities for retired judges and their families. A Supreme Court bench led by the then Chief Justice, Ranjan Gogoi, stayed the operation of the judgment as it agreed to hear a plea by the journalist.