The Delhi High Court on Thursday observed that journalistic licence does not give anyone the right to make unsavoury allegations against judges.
The oral observation by a Bench led by Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice I.S. Mehta came while hearing a contempt petition against RSS ideologue and part-time Reserve Bank of India director S. Gurumurthy for making “mischievous and false tweet” on a micro-blogging site against a sitting Delhi High Court judge.
Punishment sought
The Delhi High Court Bar Association (DHCBA) has sought punishment for Mr. Gurumurthy, editor of Tamil weekly Thuglak, for his tweets criticising the decision of the High Court in granting interim protection to Congress leader P. Chidambaram’s son Karti in the INX Media case.
Hearing on Dec 4
“We are not supposed to defend ourselves on social media. Judges don’t defend themselves. Is this fair comment that you attribute motive to the judiciary?” the Bench remarked.
“We are all for free Press but don’t attribute motive to us,” the Bench remarked, adding that the present case does not concern a specific judge but the judicial system.
The High Court has listed the case for further hearing on December 4.
No apology
The DHCBA, represented by its president, senior advocate Kirti Uppal, alleged that the editor never tendered an apology for making “scandalous” allegations against a judge of the Division Bench which had passed the order.
“The respondent [Mr. Gurumurthy] continues to instigate other misinformed followers by encouraging and supporting the opinions criticising the order of the Division Bench, and has also failed to tender to this court and judiciary as a whole an unconditional public apology,” the DHCBA petition said.