The Hindu : National : Supreme Court stays proceedings against <I>The Hindu</I> Editor

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Thursday, Apr 29, 2004

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Supreme Court stays proceedings against The Hindu Editor

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, APRIL 28. The Supreme Court today stayed all further proceedings against The Hindu Editor, N. Ravi, initiated by a sitting Judge of the Karnataka High Court, Justice N.S. Veerabhadraiah, claiming Rs. 1 lakh damages for publishing news reports relating to the `Mysore Judges episode' allegedly defamatory to him.

A three-judge Bench, comprising the Chief Justice V.N. Khare, Justice S.B. Sinha and Justice S.H. Kapadia, stayed the proceedings on a transfer petition filed by Mr. Ravi after hearing K.K. Mani, counsel for the petitioner, and issued notice to Mr. Justice Veerabhadraiah.

This petition was directed to be tagged along with another petition filed by Satyamurthy, Reporter, The Hindu; V.V.K. Mani, formerly Printer (now consultant) of the newspaper; and S. Rangarajan, formerly Publisher and currently Managing Director of the The Hindu and Kasturi and Sons, proprietors of The Hindu, who had obtained a similar stay last month on a petition seeking transfer of a suit filed by the judge from the Bangalore city civil court to a court outside the State of Karnataka.

According to the petitioner, Mr. Ravi, Mr. Justice Veerabhadraiah had filed nine defamation suits against newspapers, including The Hindu, claiming damages on the ground that his name was linked to the ``Mysore episode'' without any basis.

He said that in its 125 years of publication, The Hindu had earned the reputation for fair and accurate journalism and the promotion of constitutional values and the rule of law. The Hindu's coverage of the controversy involving the Judges of the High Court had been keeping with its respect for the authority and dignity of the judiciary. All the reports had been fair and balanced and none of them could be construed as amounting to scandalising the court and bringing the administration of justice into disrepute.

Even while publishing reports, which had appeared in a section of the press, The Hindu had taken care to prominently publish the denial of the Commissioner of Police, Mysore and the statement of the Registrar-General of the High Court. Further, these reports did not relate to any judicial proceedings, civil or criminal, and it also did not reflect on the conduct of any judicial officer in respect of judicial functioning and integrity and hence it could not be said that such publications interfered with the administration of justice in any way.

Since the plaintiff before the civil court was a sitting High Court Judge, it would be very difficult for the petitioner to defend the case before the city civil court judge and, in the interest of justice, the suit should be transferred to a court in any other State, the petitioner said and sought a direction in this regard.

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