Press freedom doesn't mean Journalists can't be questioned: SC
Freedom of the press doesn’t mean that a journalist should not be asked questions, the Supreme Court observed on Monday.During the Supreme Court’s hearing of Maharashtra’s challenge on the Bombay High courts stay on its investigation against Republic TV editor Arnab Goswami based on a pair of FIRs filed against him for allegedly inciting communal hatred through coverage of the Palghar Lynching and the gathering of Migrants at a Bus station in Bandra during the Covid-19 Lockdown.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi appearing for the state of Maharashtra asked the court how the case could be stayed after taking the court through the transcripts of the Republic TV broadcasts in question.
“Arnab Goswami will not be arrested if the investigation is revived,” he assured the court. “Message should not go that some people are above the law.
To this, chief justice SA Bobde responded, “While nobody is above the law, some people are targeted with higher intensity. There is a culture these days that some people need a higher degree of protection.”
Responding to Goswami’s counsel, Harish Salve, the CJI observed that while the court agreed that freedom of the press was crucial, “we don't appreciate the submission that as a person from the media your client should not be asked any question...Nobody is immune to being questioned.”
“There has to be responsibility in reporting. There are some areas one has to tread with caution,” the CJI said,
Salve replied that he agreed with the court, but the FIRs against Goswami were not genuine and “shouldn’t be taken at face value”.
The court asked the Maharashtra government to submit a list of FIRs filed against Goswami and posted the matter for hearing after two weeks.
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SC imposes Rs 5 lakh costs on Centre for filing frivolous petition
New Delhi, Apr 25: The Supreme Court has imposed costs of Rs 5 lakh on the Centre for challenging a Meghalaya High Court order, holding it was "sheer abuse" of the process of law.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Satish Chandra Sharma said there was no occasion or justification for the Union of India to have challenged the order by way of a Special Leave Petition.
"The present petition is sheer abuse of the process of law. The petitioners are cautioned not to file such frivolous petitions in future.
"We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned judgment(s) and order(s) of the High Court. Accordingly, the Special Leave Petition is dismissed with costs for the reason that before the High Court counsel for the petitioner (UoI) submitted that the matter was squarely covered by a previous decision and, accordingly, the High Court had disposed of the matter on the statement of the counsel for Union of India," the bench said.
The top court was hearing an appeal against the High Court order which upheld a Central Administrative Tribunal judgement.
The High Court had disposed of the matter after noting the Central government's submission that a similar plea had been rejected earlier.
"We, accordingly, impose a fine of Rs.5,00,000 to be paid by the petitioners which shall be deposited in Account of the Armed Forces Battle Casualties Welfare Fund, Canara Bank, Branch South Block, Defence Headquarters, within eight weeks...
"After depositing the said amount in the aforesaid fund, the petitioners to file proof of such deposit with the Registry of this Court within a week thereafter," the bench said.
