SC refuses to grant relief to journalists who were defamatoryly accused of being in jail

New Delhi, Dec 17 : The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant any relief to an editor of a Kannada weekly, jailed for a month for publishing defamatory articles against a lawyer, noting that considering the language used by the journalist, one month jail was "lenient".A bench headed by Chief Justice N.

V.Ramana said: "Let him suffer.What kind of journalism is this? We have to protect lawyers too." The bench, also comprising Justices Surya Kant and Hima Kohli, added: "One month is very less."Advocate Sanjay M.Nuli, appearing for the petitioner - "Tunga Varthe" proprietor, publisher, editor and printer, D.S.Vishwanatha Shetty, submitted before the bench that the high court did not correctly appreciate facts of the case.However, the top court pointed at the language used by the petitioner.

"This kind of language you use and claim you are a journalist?" the court asked.The top court declined to entertain a petition filed by challenging the Karnataka High Courts order, which partly allowed Vishwanatha Shettys plea and reduced his sentence from one year to one month simple imprisonment.

It observed that given the language used by the petitioner, "one month prison term was a lenient sentence".The high court had upheld the conviction passed by the trial court in 2009 and which was upheld by the appellate court in 2015.

The plea argued that the high courts order infringed upon the "freedom of press" and "right to know", which recognised as an intrinsic part of freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.In 2008, Vishwanatha Shetty was sentenced to one year jail by a trial court under penal provision of defamation for publishing a series of articles against advocate T.N.Rathnaraj and calling him a goon.He alleged that the advocate prepared sale deeds pertaining to lands granted to SC/ST without the governments permission and by creating fake documents.

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Let him suffer: SC declines relief to journalist jailed for defamatory articles

High court upheld conviction of trial judge in 2009.This was confirmed by appellate courtAccording to the plea, the order of the High Court infringed on the "freedom and right of press" which are fundamental parts of freedom speech and expression and guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a).

Vishwanatha Shrike was sentenced in 2008 to one-year imprisonment by a court of trial under the penal provision for defamation after publishing articles that were critical of advocate T.N.Rathnaraj, calling him a fool.The advocate allegedly prepared sales deeds for lands that were granted to SC/ST, without permission from the government and created fake documents.

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