NEW DELHI, 22 September 2007 — A New Delhi court sentenced four journalists yesterday to four months in prison for contempt of court after they criticized a former chief justice in print, a verdict slammed by critics as an assault on India’s press freedom.
The court said the four — two editors, a cartoonist and a publisher of the New Delhi-based Mid-Day newspaper — had tarnished the image of the court by alleging in their articles that former Chief Justice of India Y. K. Sabharwal had ruled on the demolition of unauthorized buildings to benefit his sons’ business interests.
“The publications, in the garb of scandalizing a retired chief justice of India, have, in fact, attacked the very institution, which according to us, is nothing short of contempt,” R.S. Sodhi and B.N. Chaturvedi of the Delhi High Court said in the ruling.
“We didn’t intend to malign the judiciary,” said M.K. Tayal, the paper’s city editor and one of the four sentenced yesterday. He told reporters outside the court that the newspaper stood by its story and it would appeal to the Supreme Court.
The others sentenced were S. K. Akhtar, the then publisher of the daily, Vitsha Oberoi, its resident editor, and Irfan Khan, the cartoonist. The four were granted bail pending their appeal.
The articles alleged that Sabharwal’s ordering of the demolition of scores of unauthorized commercial buildings in New Delhi helped his sons and their business partner, who are builders of shopping malls in the city.
The judgment was criticized by press groups as an attack on the freedom of the press in India. “The judgment is a threat to press freedom,” said K. Sachidananda Murthy, the secretary-general of the Editors’ Guild of India.
