A seven-judge Supreme Court bench on Tuesday closed proceedings on legislative powers to punish journalists for contempt. The court noted the Tamil Nadu Assembly withdrew its 2003 resolution in 2004. While the case got closed, the judges kept the question of law open for future cases to use later.
Seven-judge bench notes Tamil Nadu Assembly withdrew its 2003 resolution in 2004 after journalists faced jail over a report involving Jayalalithaa
A seven-judge Supreme Court bench on Tuesday closed proceedings on the powers of Parliament and legislatures to punish journalists and judges for contempt of the legislature, noting that the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 2003, which had triggered the debate, had been withdrawn in 2004.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant said the matter had become infructuous in view of the resolution passed by the Assembly in 2004, withdrawing the jail sentence and punishment imposed on journalists of The Hindu newspaper, including its then editor N. Ravi.
The bench, which also had Justice Aravind Kumar, Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, Justice Vipul M. Pancholi, Justice M. Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice V. Mohana, however, kept the "question of law open" for adjudication in an appropriate case in the future.
The seven-judge bench was constituted in 2004 in the matter titled "N. Ravi and Ors. Vs Speaker Legislative Assembly, Chennai & Ors", in the wake of the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 2003 sentencing Ravi, executive editor Malini Parthasarathy, bureau chief V. Jayant, special correspondent Radha Venkatesan and publisher S. Rangarajan, over a report alleging certain alleged misdemeanours by the then chief minister Jayalalithaa.
The imprisonment was at that time stayed by the Supreme Court and thereafter the question of the relative powers enjoyed by citizens and journalists under Article 19(1)(a) vis-à-vis legislative privileges under Article 194 was referred to a five-judge bench and thereafter to a seven-judge bench.
On Tuesday, the seven-judge bench decided to close the matter as it only had academic value, after senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, appearing for the Tamil Nadu government, informed the court about the Assembly's decision in 2004 to withdraw the legislation. He said the withdrawal decision had not been brought to the court when the issue was referred to a seven-judge bench.