NEW DELHI: The judiciary will protect the freedom of press, The Shillong Times editor Patricia Mukhim said on Friday, minutes after the Supreme Court stayed the Meghalaya High Court judgment in a contempt case against her and the publisher of the daily.
The case relates to an article published by the paper on the perks and facilities for retired judges and their families.
The apex court also stayed the operation of the judgment by which the high court had imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh each on Mukhim and publisher Shoba Chaudhuri.
Accompanied by her lawyer Vrinda Grover, Mukhim told PTI, "The Supreme Court has stayed and suspended the judgment passed by the Meghalaya High Court on March 8, 2019. I have full faith that judiciary will protect the freedom of press." The high court had also said that if the two persons failed to deposit the fine, they will have to undergo six months simple imprisonment and the newspaper will be banned.
A Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, also issued notice to the high court registrar on the appeal filed by the editor and the publisher of the newspaper.
The high court had on March 8 sentenced the editor and the publisher to sit in the corner of the court room till the rising of the court in the contempt case.