Editor, RE guilty of contempt of court

The Delhi High court recently held the editor, publisher, Resident Editor and cartoonist of Mid Day guilty of contempt of court for writing and publishing a series of articles against former Chief Justice of INdia YK Sabharwal.

PTI report said that there is sufficient material to hold them guilty of contempt of court. The Supreme Court judgments have laid down the 'Lakshman Rekha' which the publication has crossed, observed the HC division bench.

Editor of Midday MK Tayal, Publisher SK Akhtar, Resident Editor Vitusha Oberioi and Cartoonist Irfan have been asked to be personally present themselves before court on september 21. The tabloid had published reports alleging that Sabhwarwal's son had ties with mall developers who benefited from the sealing drive during his tenure in the office.

Interestingly, Tehelka weekly had done similar story before but they probably handled it better. The cartoon should have been avoided. Earlier a press confernece by a group of legal luminaries and prominent citizens in Delhi on the same issue was attended by journalists but none published or broadcast it for fear of the contempt of court.