TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2001 (5) TMI 990
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....cency and respect for the judiciary have been overstepped and a distorted version has been presented which has lowered the image of judiciary and Therefore attracts stringent action. In the article in question, certain statements have been made which tend to cause aspersions on the integrity and capability of Hon'ble Judges of this Court. It is highlighted that without any material to support or even proper verification of the statements purported to have been made by some members of the Bar, the article has been published which tends to show members of judiciary in a very poor light and it would result in consumer of justice losing faith on the members of judiciary and corrode credibility of the institution. It is pointed out that the article is full of mis-statements. The lack of accuracy and truth, it is pointed out, is apparent from the fact that fifty "senior counsel" have been described as one-tenth of the total strength of the Delhi High Court Bar. As to who the so-called senior lawyers are have not been indicated and how they have been described as "senior lawyers" is shrouded in mystery. It is emphasized that even if any lawyer(s) gave any statement of expressed his/he....
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....t after some arguments are advanced to justify the publication, and not as an attempt to get out of the contempt proceedings, the same can be accepted. To put it differently, he stated that apology should be bonafide and not a camouflage to avoid consequences flowing from contempt proceedings. Mr. R.K. Anand and Mr. B.L. Wadhera appearing for the petitioners however resisted the prayer for accepting the apology of the ground that it would amount to first throw mud on the judiciary, and then come to the court with apology and get away with it. According to them it is a fit case where stringent action is called for and any act of leniency is bound to be misunderstood as a weakness of the institution. They submitted that though in a genuine case apology of the nature tendered can be accepted, the present case is not one of them. The language used in the article is sarcastic, contemptuous, and sole object of the article was attacking the credibility of the institution and defaming it. 3. The press plays a vital role in the administration of justice. "It is the watchdog to see that every trial is conducted fairly, openly and aboveboard. But the watchdog may sometimes break loose and ....
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.... but reasonable restriction can be imposed. It will be of relevance to compare the various suggestions as prevalent in America and India. It is worthwhile to note that all utterances against a Judge or concerning a pending case do not in America amount to contempt of Court. In Article 19 the expression "reasonable restrictions" is used which is almost at par with the American phraseology "inherent tendency" or "reasonable tendency". The Apex Court of America in Bridges v California (1911) 86 L Ed. 192 said: "What finally emerges from the clear and present danger cases is a working principle that the substantive evil must be extremely serious and the degree of imminence extremely serious and the degree of imminence extremely high before utterances can be punished." The vehemence of the language used is not alone the measure of the power to punish for contempt of Court. The fires which is kindles must constitute an imminent, not merely a likely, threat to the administration of justice. The stream of administration of justice has to remain unpolluted so that purity of Court's atmosphere may give vitality to all the organs of the State. Polluters of judicial firmament a....
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....of his limitations and fallibility than a Judge. But because of his training and the assistance he gets from learned counsel he is apt to avoid mistakes more than others. While fair and temperate criticism of the Court even if strong, may not be actionable, but attributing improper motives or tending to bring Judges or Courts into hatred and contempt or obstructing directly or indirectly with the functioning of Courts is serious contempt of which notice must be will be taken. Respect is expected not only from those to whom the judgment of the Court is acceptable but also from those to whom it is repugnant. Those who err in their criticism by indulging in vilification of the institution of Court, administration of justice and the instruments through which the administration acts, should take heed for they will act at their own peril. To similar effect were the observations of Hidayatullah, C.J., (as the learned judge was then) in R.C. Cooper v. Union of India [1970] 3 SCR 530. 8. The freedom of press under our Constitution is not higher than that of citizen and that there is no greater privilege attaching to the profession of the press as distinguished from the members of the pub....
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....tion alleged to be offending was by way of fair comment on the merits of the case or was personal scurrilous abuse of a Judge as a Judge, for abuse of a Judge or a Court or attacks on the personal character of a Judge are clearly punishable contempt. As stated in para 2 at page 21 of Volume-9 of Halsbury's Laws of England; Fourth Edition, "The punishment is inflicted, not for the purpose of protecting either the Court as a whole or the individual Judges of the Court from a repetition of the attack, but of protecting the public, and specially those who either voluntarily or by compulsion are subject to the jurisdiction of the Court, from the mischief they will incur if the authority of the tribunal is undermined or impaired." The view was echoed by the Apex Court in D. Saxena v. CJI 1996 CriLJ 3274 In the same volume of Halsbury's Laws of England at para 27 it is stated thus: "Any act done or writing published which is calculated to bring a Court or a Judge into contempt or to lower its authority or to interfere with the due course of justice or the lawful process of the Court, is a contempt of Court." The above proposition has been approved and followed by Lord Atkin ....
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....a) stated thus: ".....It may be necessary to punish as a contempt a cause of conduct which abuses and makes a mockery of the judicial process and which thus extends its pernicious influence beyond the parties to the action and affects the interest of the public in the administration of justice. The public have an interest, an abiding and a real interest, and vital stake in the effective and orderly administration of justice, because unless justice is so administered, there is the peril of all rights and liberties perishing. The Court has the duty of protecting the interest of the public in the due administration of justice and so it is contempt of Court not in order to protect the dignity of the Court against Contempt of Court may seem to suggest but to protect and to vindicate the right of the public and the administration of justice shall not be prevented, prejudiced, obstructed or interfered with." Krishna Iyer, J. in his separate judgment In re. S. Mulgaokar: [1978] 3 SCR 162, while giving broad guidelines in taking punitive action in the matter of contempt of Court has stated: ".....If the Court considers the attack on the judge or judges scurrilous, offen....
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....nt is libelous, it can constitute criminal contempt if the imputation is such that the same is capable of lowering the authority of the Court. The gravity of the aforesaid statement is that the same would scandalize the court. 14. The right to criticize an opinion of a court, to take issue with it upon its conclusions as to a legal proposition, or question its conception of the facts, so long as such criticisms are made in good faith and are in ordinarily decent and respectful language and are not designed to willfully or maliciously misrepresent the position of the Court, or tend to bring it into disrespect, or lessen the respect due to the authority to which a Court is entitled, cannot be questioned. The right of free speech is one of the greatest guarantee to liberty in a free country like ours, even though that right is frequently and in many instances outrageously abused. If any considerable portion of a community is led to believe that either because of gross ignorance of the law or because of a wrong reason, it cannot reply upon the courts to administer justice that portion of the community, upon some occasion, is very likely to come to the conclusion that it is better no....
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....Court considers the attack on the Judge or Judges scurrilous, offensive, intimidatory or malicious beyond condonable limits the strong and of the law must, in the name of public interest and public justice, strike a blow on him who challenges the supremacy of the rule of law by fouling its source and stream." 17. Considered in the light of the aforesaid position in law, a bare reading of the article in question makes it clear that the statements made amount to a scurrilous attack on the integrity, honesty and judicial competence and impartiality of judges. It is offensive and intimidating. The contemners by their conduct as well as by making such scandalising statements and invective remarks have interfered and seriously shaken the system of administration of justice by bringing it down to disrespect and disrepute. It impairs confidence of the people in the Court. Once door is opened to this kind of allegations, aspersions and imputations, it may provide a handle to the disgruntled litigants to malign the Judges, leading to character assassination. The article seems to have been published with doubtful intentions, oblivious of the implications it would have on the general public....
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....on Contempt of Court". It is said: "To speak generally, contempt of court may be said to be constituted by any conduct that tends to bring the authority and demonstration of law into disrespect and disregard or to interfere with or prejudice parties, litigant or their witnesses during the litigation." "Contempt in the legal acceptance of the term, primarily signifies disrespect to that which is entitled to legal regard, but as a wrong purely moral or affecting an object not possessing a legal status, it has in the eye of the law no existence. In its origin all legal contempt will be found to consist in an offence more or less direct against the sovereign himself as the fountainhead of law and justice or against his palace where justice was administered. This clearly appears from old cases." 20. Lord Diplock, speaking for the Judicial Committee in Chokolingo v. Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago (1981) 1 All E.R. 244, summarized the position thus: "Scandalizing the Court is a convenient way of describing a publication which, although it does not relate to any specific case either part of pending or any specific Judge, is a scurrilous attack on the judiciary....
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....r the full development of the personality of the individual. It is said that without the freedom of press truth cannot be attained. The freedom of press is part of the freedom of speech and expression as envisaged in Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. Thus, the freedom of press is included in the fundamental right of freedom of expression. The freedom of press is regarded as the "mother of all other liberties" in a democratic society. Further the importance and the necessity of having a free press in a democratic constitution like ours was immensely stressed in several landmark judgments of the Apex Court e.g. Indian Express Newspapers v Union of India AIR 1986 SC 872 AP Sen J, (as he then was) described the right to freedom of press as a pillar of individual liberty which has been unfailingly guarded by the Courts. But why the "mother" is acting like a step mother to judiciary is baffling. 23. It is thus needless to emphasise that a free and healthy press is indispensable to the functioning of a true democracy. In a democratic set up there has to be an active and intelligent participation of the people in all spheres and affairs of their community as well as the Sta....
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....ater responsibility to guard against untruthful news and publications for the simple reasons that his utterances have a far greater circulation and impact than the utterances of an individual and by reason of their appearing in print, they are likely to be believed by the ignorant. That being so, certain restrictions are essential even for preservation of the freedom of the press itself. To quote from the report of Moons Lopez to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations" If it is true that human progress is impossible without freedom, then it is no less true that ordinary human progress is impossible without a measure of regulation and discipline. It is the duty of a true and responsible journalist to strive to inform the people with accurate and impartial presentation of news and their views after dispassionate evaluation of the facts and information received by them and to be published as a news item. The presentation of the news should be truthful, objective and comprehensive without any false and distorted expression. 24. At this juncture, the observations of the Supreme Court in C. Ravichandran Iyer vs. Justice A.M. Bhattacharjee (1995) 5 SCC 457 comes to mind.....
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....tack on the press, they have rushed to the Courts and have described the judiciary as their saviour. It is strange that the very institution which has come to its rescue, has been attacked thereby corroding its credibility. A messiah suddenly finds himself treated as a pariah. A common man may start losing confidence in judiciary by saying that the judgment delivered in his case is not above board, and "condonable limit" of publication Mulgonkar's case (supra) would be exceeded. Ultimate sufferer would be the society. 26. It has been rightly submitted by learned Attorney General and learned counsel appearing for the petitioner that an apology cannot be accepted unless it is really intended to be an apology and not merely a pretext to escape the consequences. An apology must be genuine, honest and bona fide. inspire of the seriousness and gravity of the act of the respondents in publishing the article in question, we would not like to sound as vindictive or revengeful. Unconditional apologies tendered by the respondents at the outset, as noted above, deserve acceptance. The respondents are journalists of standing and repute. We have two reason to doubt their bona fides about ....
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....rsuade myself to accept the apologies of the contemners. The publication starts with the caption "Judged out!". It professes that the judges have been evaluated by fifty senior lawyers. According to the publication the alleged evaluators constitute nearly ten percent of the total strength of the Delhi High Court Bar. It mentions that it is not meant to cast any aspersion on the competence of the judiciary, but is a small and humble attempt to hold a mirror to it. Quite contrary to the assertion, in the so called mirror it depicts a distorted image of the judges of this court. To compound the impudence it attempts to pass on the profanity as factually true by stating that "it might make some judges uncomfortable, but truth sometimes does". The publication is a scurrilous attack on the credibility and competence of the judges of this Court. It undermines the majesty, respect and dignity of the court and tends to create an apprehension in the minds of people regarding the integrity and ability of the judges. The publication also tends to erode the authority of the court. It, Therefore, clearly constitutes contempt of the court. In case the judiciary is to perform its duties and ....
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....e of the judicial system gets eroded." In E.M. Sankaran Namboodiripad v. t. Narayan Nambiar 1970 CriLJ 1670, the Supreme Court held that maintenance of dignity of the courts is one of the cardinal principles of the rule of law and when criticism results in lowering the dignity of the courts, it must be held repugnant and punished. It was further held that no court can look with equanimity on a publication which may have a tendency to interfere with the administration of justice. The publication in question scandalises the judges. It attempts to rob the High Court of its honour and prestige and thus tends to shatter the faith and confidence of the public in the judiciary and the administration of justice and majesty of law. The contemners cannot be allowed to tamper with the stream of justice which must flow pure and unhindered. Therefore, the conduct of the contemners cannot be ignored. At this stage it may be pointed out that the power of contempt is not being exercised to vindicate the honour of the individual judges who are attacked or scandalised, but is being exercised to uphold the majesty of law. This power flows from Article 215 of the Constitution as a necessary attr....
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....to be against its interests cannot be allowed to ascribe motives to the court. Disgruntled elements cannot be permitted to tarnish the image of the judiciary. In order to protect the rule of law we cannot allow the trust and confidence of people in the judiciary to be forfeited in this manner. The publication is not only insulting but is also reckless in nature. This is so because of a variety of reasons. Firstly, fifty so called unnamed senior lawyers do not constitute ten percent of the total strength of the Delhi High Court Bar. The Delhi High Court Bar, as is apparent from its directory, consists of more than four thousand members. Secondly, the publication loses sight of the fact that the Advocates Act, 1961, classifies legal practitioners as Senior Advocates and Advocates. Senior Advocates are to ones who are designated as such by the Supreme Court and the High Courts on the basis of their ability, standing at the bar or special knowledge and experience in law. There is no category of 'senior lawyers'. We have not been told who the senior lawyers' were who allegedly acted as evaluators and what was the criteria used to determine their seniority. Thirdly, in the....
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....tion in question, though this is not being held against the contemners, is that some of the newspapers carried articles on the assumption that what was published by the contemners was true. This was not objective reporting, but this may have served the cause of solidarity of the press. Some of the article while justifying the offending publication called it a 'fair criticism'. Some even went to the extent of calling the action initiated by us 'reprehensible'. The contemners themselves have now admitted before us that they did not subscribe to any statement or expression of opinion in the publication and in particular the appraisal of the judges of this Court. They have also admitted that the appraisal in the publication is not the representative view of the whole of the bar. Therefore, it was unfair and unreasonable on the part of those who were swept by sympathy wave to have acted in such an irresponsible manner. I will, however, leave this aspect for their introspection. The Press Council has enunciated guide-lines to regulate to conduct of the press. At this stage it would be convenient to set out some of the norms of journalistic conduct:- "xx xx xx ....
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....asis of conjectures and surmises. A judge can function only if he/she has the moral authority. In case his/her reputation is sullied by unfounded allegations he/she can never exercise that authority. In the circumstances, a question arises as to whether the law should sit limply and helplessly and be a mere spectator to the damage caused to the administration of justice. To my mind it must not be so. It should act firmly and decisively since the publication has the propensity to deter people from placing reliance upon the court and tends to shake their faith in the judiciary. The instant case is the rarest of the rare cases in which the court must intervene to protect the faith of the people who have abiding interest in the administration of justice. The publication shows that the contemnors were conscious were conscious of the fact that the publication amounts to contempt of court. The offending publication was not made by the contemnors in ignorance of the consequences. This is evident from the following snide remarks contained therein:- "....As even staring too hard at 'The Lordships' could amount to contempt of court, we at Wahindia decided it was time to....
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....red un-conditional apologies at the very threshold so the same should be accepted and the matter need not be pressed further. Shri Soli Sorabji, learned Attorney General of India, submitted that the apology can be accepted if it is genuine and honest and there is no attempt to justify the contents of or the opinion expressed in the impugned article. On the other hand, Mr. R.K. Anand, learned senior counsel for the petitioners and Mr. B.L.Wadhera, advocate, who appeared in person as petitioner contended that the apologies tendered by the contemners are neither genuine nor honest or bonafide and have been offered only as a poly to escape the punishment so the same should not be accepted. Having bestowed my thoughtful consideration to the respective submissions of the learned counsel and learned Attorney General of India and also to the contents of article in question, I am firmly of the view that the apologies tendered by the contemners are neither genuine nor made in good faith. An apology can be said to be honest if it is made in good faith. A genuine apology would mean that the respondents have realised their mistake and are really repentant, contrite for their conduct. The art....
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....r verdict on the results of the survey with an open mind after evaluating the data and believing it to be true. it is their own opinion expressed with a free mind. Therefore, it does not lie in their mouth now to say that they do not subscribe to the opinion expressed in the impugned article or there was no attempt to cast any aspersion on the judges of this Court. The editorial comments belie their assertion that the apology is being tendered in good faith. Another important feature which need to be taken note of in this regard is that in the impugned article appearing at page 044 of the aforesaid magazine, the caption has been given as "Judged out" but at page 2 which enumerates the contents of the issue, the caption given reads as "...ges on their integrity" with an exhortation "get ready for the party". This indicates that the original caption was intended to convey that the article in question is a judgment on our integrity. This is amply proved from the fact that the Hon'ble Judges have been individually graded on personal integrity, depth in law and quality of judgment delivered. In face of all this, it is not possible to believe that the apologies have been tendered ....