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Meghalaya HC holds Shillong Times editor, publisher in contempt, asks to pay Rs 2 lakh each

HC asks Patricia Mukhim and Shobha Chaudhuri to deposit fine within a week, else they would be jailed for six months and news daily 'banned'.

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New Delhi: Aggrieved over the publication of two articles in The Shillong Times, the Meghalaya high court Friday held its editor Patricia Mukhim and publisher Shobha Chaudhuri guilty of contempt and imposed on them a fine of Rs 2 lakh each.

The first of the two articles, published on 10 December under the title “When judges judge for themselves”, related to an order passed by the high court regarding retirement benefits to judges.

On Friday, the high court asked Mukhim and Chaudhuri “to sit in the corner of the courtroom” till the end of the proceedings of the day.

The court asked both to deposit the fine within a week, failing which they would be jailed for six months and the news daily “banned”.

The Shillong Times is said to be oldest English-language daily in the Northeast.


Also read: Editors Guild backs The Shillong Times over HC notice, urges judges to be tolerant


‘Control the judiciary’

The division bench comprising Chief Justice M.Y. Mir and Justice S.R. Sen pulled up Mukhim and Chaudhuri for their reportage and observed that as “responsible persons”, the two should not have “indulged in the acts” that were derogatory to the “administration of justice”.

“We would like to ask whether the contemnor, Smti. Patricia Mukhim wants to control the judiciary as per her desire and will? If it is so, she is very much wrong,” the court observed.

Initiating suo motu proceedings against Mukhim and Chaudhari, the court had issued a show cause notice shortly after the publication of the article.

Justice Sen, on whose judgment the Shillong Times article was based, has made controversial remarks previously too. He retired Friday.

In a statement after the judgment, Mukhim said the order is “meant to deliver a chilling effect on us and mediapersons in general”.

‘Calculated strategy’

The high court also took note of the article where the daily had allegedly reported that Sen “should be impeached” for the 13 December judgment in which he said India “should have been declared a Hindu country” at Independence and that he was confident “only this government under PM Narendra Modi” would stop the country from becoming an Islamic state.

It also noted that the “contemnors” who were contesting the issue all along “tendered unconditional apology at the last moment” when they realised the tide was not turning in their direction.

The apology, which was filed on 1 March, “appears to be a calculated strategy so as to avoid punishment,” the court noted.

The court also took umbrage over social media posts of Mukhim.

Considering the facts and circumstances of this case, the court was of the “considered view” that Mukhim made a derogatory comment in her social media post dated 17 December 2018 where she said, “Will God reserve the choicest abuses for us journalist? That’s what the earthly Gods to believe.”

The court observed that Mukhim had “no answer” when she was “confronted” for her remarks on 25 February.


Also read: Decoding Justice Sen – story of Meghalaya judge who said India should’ve been Hindu nation


 

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