NEW DELHI, 11 November 2003 — The Supreme Court yesterday halted attempts to arrest six journalists sentenced to 15-day jail terms for writing articles criticizing the government of the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
The arrests were ordered Friday by the state assembly for “breach of privilege” in articles and an editorial about Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jayaram’s administration.
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court said “every institution, be it legislature, media or judiciary, has to respect other institutions”.
“None of the institutions should cross the fine line or be hypersensitive to harsh words of criticism,” the judges said.
Five journalists from The Hindu newspaper were targeted by the assembly after the publication accused the state government of “rising intolerance toward political opponents”.
The editor of the Tamil-language daily Murasoli was given the same sentence for publishing a translation of The Hindu editorial.
On Friday night, police went to The Hindu’s headquarters in the southern city of Madras and searched the offices of top editors but did not make any arrests. The six journalists apparently went into hiding.
The Hindu’s editor in chief N. Ram said he was “delighted” with yesterday’s court ruling.
“Our confidence in the Supreme Court and highest judicial forums has not failed us,” he said. “I stand for the cause of press freedom and I thank all who stood with us,” he added.
Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani described the verdict as “good for democracy”. Earlier, a delegation of opposition MPs and legislators from Tamil Nadu met Advani to register their protest at the sentences.
The ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition Congress party have also said the Tamil Nadu authorities acted improperly.
Media groups across India expressed outrage at the sentence with one group of reporters in New Delhi burning an effigy of Jayalalitha.
Journalists, wearing black ribbons, held a sit-in protest at a press club in the western desert state of Rajasthan and similar protests were reported from the northern states of Punjab and Uttaranchal.
Two Pakistani Ministers in India for First Time in Two Years
In a thawing of relations between the hostile neighbors, two Pakistani ministers are visiting India this week marking the first visit by a Pakistani minister to the country in more than two years.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed arrived in New Delhi late Sunday to attend a two-day South Asian information ministers meet beginning today, Indian and Pakistani officials said.
Last week he said he would carry a message of peace and good will from Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali to the Indian premier. “I hope to call on Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to deliver our prime minister’s message of peace and goodwill,” he said.
