The Delhi High Court has imposed a cost of Rs 10,000 on a petitioner seeking gag orders against Hindustan Times and Dainik Jagran, stating that a gag order should be passed only when it became absolutely necessary for the fairness of a trial.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad observed that just because a publication was mentioning the court proceedings, it could not be concluded that it was affecting a fair trial. The court has to carefully see the nature of the publication and find out whether the content of the publication will cause prejudice to the trial or not.
It said prejudice by a publication could be divided into two categories, one which threatened to impair the courts impartiality and the other which prejudiced the court’s ability to determine true facts.
The single-judge Bench imposed cost of Rs 10,000 on petitioner Ajay Kumar, who sought directions against Hindustan Times and Dainik Jagran to conceal his identity while circulating news or any articles published by them.
Kumar contended that the two newspapers carried an article naming him at the behest of a police officer to prejudice a case filed by his mother against the officer.
He alleged that the police officer briefed the journalists regarding a case pending before a consumer forum in Lucknow.
The Bench noted that the petitioner had neither stated the prayer of the writ petition filed by his mother nor a copy of the consumer complaint about which the police officer briefed Hindustan Times and Dainik Jagran journalists.
It said the petitioner approached the court without bringing on record all the relevant facts and material, adding that the instant petition was nothing but a complete abuse of the process of law.