Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

Contempt proceedings against 7 dailies

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE DEC. 24. The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday moved yet another suo motu criminal contempt of court petition against 28 persons, including editors, printers, publishers and reporters of seven publications for publishing news reports regarding the transfer of judicial officers from Mysore, alleging that the reports are a concerted effort to "terrorise the judiciary".

A vacation Bench comprising Justice R.Gururajan and Justice K.Ramanna, reserved orders on the petition moved by the Registrar-General, A.C.Kabbin, on whether or not to initiate the contempt proceedings. The seven dailies — Mysore Mitra, Vijay Karnataka, Kannada Prabha, Udayavani, Samyukta Karnataka (all Kannada dailies), Deccan Herald, and The Times of India — have been arraigned as respondents to the petition.

Asked by Justice R. Gururajan whether the reports were tantamount to contempt of court, the Advocate-General, A.N.Jayaram, who was appearing on behalf of the High Court, submitted that he was there only to assist the court. It was for the court to decide whether the reports amounted to contempt of court.

In his petition, submitted on directions from the Chief Justice, the Registrar-General stated that since December 21, the respondent newspapers had been carrying reports regarding the transfer of the Principal District and Sessions Judge, Mysore, K.G.Hosur, his alleged resignation, and speculative reports regarding transfer of more judges from Mysore, apparently in relation to the "Mysore episode".

However, the High Court has not issued any such order, Mr. Kabbin claimed and dubbed the reports false. He said there was nothing to show that Mr. Hosur had anything to do with the alleged episode and linking him to it amounted to criminal contempt of court.

He said the High Court was empowered to transfer judicial officers by virtue of Article 235 of the Constitution. No person can interfere with that power, nor has any person the liberty or the right to speculate on such actions of the High Court and publish it in newspapers affecting judicial independence. Mr. Kabbin submitted that publication of speculative reports on the transfer of more judges would create tension and apprehension among judicial officers in Mysore.

Publishing reports regarding the transfer of judicial officers without there being any transfer order amounted to interference in the administration of justice, the Registrar-General said. Besides affecting the administration, such writing would malign the image of the judicial officer concerned, he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Contempt proceedings against 7 dailies
• Consumer courts in new districts soon
• Rare vegetables impress Bangaloreans
• `Heart Care on Wheels' for poor
• Pampa Award for Chidananda Murthy

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu