The Supreme Court  on Wednesday refused to stay the contempt proceedings initiated by the Delhi High Court against  editor of tabloid Mid Day and three others for publishing articles against the former Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal accusing him of passing orders which in turn favoured his builder sons.

While showing some leniency, the Apex Court directed the High Court to grant bail immediately to the contemnors — M K Dayal, city editor of Midday, S K Akhtar (publisher), Vitusha Oberoi (resident editor) and Irfan (cartoonist) — if awarded imprisonment.

A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhan said, “We will not stay further proceedings in the High Court. We have never seen the pronouncement of sentence stayed in a contempt case.”

The court fixed September 28 for hearing the petition challenging the conviction. Senior Counsel Shanti Bhushan appearing for the contemnors argued that the proceedings should be stayed as the HC did not consider the evidence produced before it during the trial.

Justices R S Sodhi and B N Chatruvedi of High Court in an order said, “There is sufficient material to hold them guilty of contempt of court.”
The Supreme Court have laid down a Lakshmanrekha which the publication has crossed.
The high court has fixed September 21 for the pronouncement of the sentence and asked all the contemnors to be present in the court. “The documentary evidence attesting the allegation was discovered by the reporters of Mid Day from the official website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs,” Bhushan had said during the arguments.
Bhushan had placed before the Bench all the relevant documents on the basis of which news reports were published on May 18 and May 19.