The Hindu : Front Page : Madras High Court initiates contempt proceedings against TV reporter

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Wednesday, Sep 22, 2004

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Front Page

Madras High Court initiates contempt proceedings against TV reporter

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, SEPT. 21. The Madras High Court today restrained the New Delhi-based Aaj Tak-TV Today Network Limited from telecasting any news relating to the contents of a fax message sent to the Chief Justice, B. Subhashan Reddy. The message was sent by Kumar Rajesh, Senior Special Correspondent of Aaj Tak-TV Today Network Limited.

A five-member Bench of the Court, which passed the injunction order of prior restraint, also initiated suo motu criminal contempt of court proceedings against the correspondent. It directed him to appear before it on October 27 "to show cause as to why he should not be punished for contempt."

The matter relates to a fax message sent by Mr. Rajesh to the Chief Justice on September 20 requesting him to give "his point of view" on certain matters figuring in a document in his possession. Stating that he had copies of the document "substantiating the various charges" against the Chief Justice, Mr. Rajesh had said that "journalistic ethics demands that we have both sides of the story."

On Tuesday, the Registrar-General, J.A.K. Sampathkumar, sent a reply to the reporter. He said that as directed by the Chief Justice, "I am to state that you have got no authority whatsoever to seek for any response" from the Chief Justice, and that "the matter was strictly between the two Constitutional functionaries [Mr. Justice Reddy and the Chief Justice of India, R.C. Lahoti] and your intervention is not only unwarranted" but, "in fact, contemptuous."

Asking the correspondent to "refrain yourself from proceeding any further," the Registrar-General said that unless he withdrew the fax message by 1.30 p.m. on September 21, "appropriate legal action would be taken."

On Tuesday afternoon, the larger Bench initiated the suo motu contempt proceedings against Mr. Rajesh, stating that in spite of the "caution" issued by the Registrar-General directing him to withdraw his fax message by 1.30 p.m., no reply had been received.

The Court then passed an order of injunction "restraining the contemner from proceeding any further with the matter mentioned in the fax message" dated September 20, "including telecasting any news relating to the matter." It ordered notice to Mr. Rajesh and directed him to appear before the Judges at 10.30 a.m. on October 27.

The Bench comprised Justice N. Dhinakar, Justice N.V. Balasubramanian, Justice M. Karpagavinayagam, Justice P.K. Misra and Justice K. Govindarajan.

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