Lawfare – Contempt of Court, Journalists and Others

The existing case was suo motu started after a report dated 05.05.2024 showed up on a Malayalam online news networks–Karma News, relaying particular declarations made by one P.C. Jose (participant no. 1) in a meeting. The court had actually started the suo-motu contempt against Jose, the MD and Director of Galaxy Zoom India Private Limited which runs Karma News and one more participant.

The program brought the subtitle that Mr P.C. Jose is a “human rights activist,” and affirmed that, because he had actually set up procedures to make the arrangements of the Indian Penal Code suitable to Judges, Magistrates, and various other Judicial Officers, he was wrongfully apprehended in a psychological asylum and incorrect criminal situations were maliciously passed off upon him.

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“The above statements, made publicly and disseminated through a mass-media channel, are not only false and scurrilous but are also calculated to scandalise the Court, to lower its authority in the eyes of the public, and to erode public confidence in the independence and integrity of the judiciary. The tenor, content, and mode of dissemination of these allegations, on the face of it, constitute prima facie criminal contempt within the meaning of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971,” the order notes.