‘Contempt’ again against Kerala Kaumudi

KOCHI: The high court has decided to
file contempt of court case against Kerala Kaumudi daily.
The case was filed for the provocative editorial published
on the front page on Abhaya murder case. The editorial was
published on December 18.

Earlier, the court had decided to file contempt of court
case but had to withdraw it owing to Advocate General’s explanation.
It was on January 13 that the high court took procedures to
file contempt of court case against Kerala Kaumudi. The specially
appointed judge assessed that the content of the editorial
has elements that could be termed against court. The judge
arrived at this point on the basis of the report submitted
before acting chief justice.

The case was then handed to the division bench comprising
of justices K Balakrishnan Nair and K Suerndramohan. This
division bench instructed the Advocate General C P Sudhakar
Prasad to consult the bench. The Advocate General, who met
the division bench, informed that the editorial contained
nothing against the court and termed that Kerala Kaumudi was
a committed newspaper. The advocate general requested the
bench to withdraw from filing case against the daily. On the
basis of the Advocate General’s suggestions the bench withdrew
the procedures against the newspaper on January 19.

Now the division bench judged that the full court which comprises
of all the judges could, if necessary, take procedures. The
new decision was taken at the full court meeting that comprised
of all judges in the evening. This move by the court is the
rarest of the rare occasion, legal sources say. Instruction
has been given to the Registrar General to taken preliminary
procedures. It is known that it will be posted to the Division
bench, which is considering the contempt of court cases, the
next day.

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