MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court delivered a landmark judgment holding that when freedom of press - a fundamental right - is at stake, higher judiciary is obliged to exercise not only its inherent power but also exert itself a bit and the Court can never desert its duty when it comes to the protection of fundamental rights.
While quashing the criminal defamation proceedings initiated against a journalist for her articles published on illegal beach sand mining in Tamil Nadu, Justice GR Swaminathan held, "There is no point in merely singing paeans to freedom of press, if one cannot go to its rescue when the said right is faced with a serious threat (sic.,) and an unused power is a useless tinsel. There is no point in merely saying that press is the foundation of democracy."
The judge said, "An activist role will have to be played by the higher judiciary because it is a matter of record that criminal defamation proceedings have become a tool of intimidation and before corporate bodies and powerful politicians whose pockets are tunnel deep and whose hands are long even media houses having good resources have capitulated," the judge said.
Citing the Rajagopal vs J. Jayalalitha (AIR 2006 Mad 312) and Petronet Lng Ltd vs Indian Petro Group And Another) (2009) 158 DLT 759 (Del) cases, Justice Swaminathan said that the Sullivan principle as amplified in these cases have to be necessarily read into the Exceptions to Section 499 whenever the freedom of the press is involved.
The Judge further observed, "There can always be a margin of error. The permissible width of the margin will depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. The media can avail this defense whether the complainant is a public official or a private entity. Mere inaccuracies in reporting cannot justify initiation of prosecution."
In 2015, an independent journalist Sandhiya Ravishankar reported a series of news articles on the illegal beach sand mining of atomic minerals like monazite in the southern coastline of Tamil Nadu based on a Public Interest Litigation filed in the Madras High Court.
Aggrieved by the article, V.V. Minerals Pvt Ltd at Thesiyanvilai issued a legal notice and took the issue to the Judicial Magistrate Court in Tirunelveli. Challenging this, petitioner Sandhiya approached the High Court Bench here seeking to quash the defamation petition filed against her.