Staying the arrest of two senior journalists and two others of afternoon tabloid Mid Day, the Supreme Court on Friday said the order would be quashed if proven that they did not commit any contempt by writing articles against former chief justice Y K Sabharwal.

A bench of Justices, Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam, admitted the appeal filed by Vitusha Oberoi, the resident editor of the newspaper, challenging the sentence of four months for the articles which alleged that Justice Sabharwal had passed certain orders in the matters pertaining to sealing of commercial premises in residential areas in the Capital, allegedly benefiting his builder sons.

Appearing for the Mid Day newspaper Senior Counsel Shanti Bhushan said the four months’ sentence to the journalists was an “attack on the civil society”.

Fixing January 16, as next date of hearing, the bench said the court would decide whether the four — Ms Oberoi, City Editor M K Tayal, cartoonist Irfaan Khan and S K Akhtar, former publisher — committed any contempt or not. “If they did not (commit any contempt) the order would go,” the court said.

Meanwhile, the court dismissed the intervention application filed by a group of eminent citizens including Magsaysay award winners Arvind Kejriwal and Rajinder Singh, Aruna Roy, Sandeep Pande, observing that, “We don’t need the help of the intellectuals”.

The court refused to hear the application which had raised the question of judicial accountability and mode of investigation by a competent authority. Senior Counsel Anil Diwan, appearing for the group, submitted that the apex court should lay down the law as the high court order is an infringement on the freedom of speech, a fundamental right of the citizens and media, enumerated in the Constitution of India.

Mid Day onMay 19 had carried news reports that the sealing orders issued by a bench headed by the then Chief Justice of India, Justice Sabharwal, was intended to benefit his sons who had ties with some mall developers in the Capital.