Supreme Court stays Gujarat HC order rejecting apology by 'The Times of India' for wrong reporting

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended a Gujarat High Court's order which had rejected an affidavit filed by "The Times of India", tendering an apology for "wrong reporting" on the hearing of a matter.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and K V Vishwanathan stayed the order on a plea by Bennett, Coleman and Company Limited.

The petitioner, which publishes English daily "The Times of India", challenged the September 2 High Court order.

The High Court had then granted three more days to "The Times of India" and two other newspapers to tender a public apology in their publications in bold letters on the front page, clearly intimating the public about the "wrong reporting made by them" on August 13.

"The affidavits tendering the apology by the editors of three newspapers, namely 'Indian Express', 'The Times of India' and 'Divya Bhaskar', placed in the court today, tendering public apology in the newspapers about the reports published in the newspaper edition dated August 13, 2024 of the ongoing hearing in this group of petitions, are not to the satisfaction of the court. All their affidavits are being rejected accordingly," the High Court had said.

On the plea by the publisher, the court directed for the stay of the High Court's order as well as the contempt proceeding. 

"However, we clarify that the proceedings of the writ petition will proceed in accordance with law," the bench said.

In its August 13 order, the High Court had noted that during the hearing in the matter on August 12, certain observations were made by the bench that were printed as a news item in "The Times of India" with the headline -- "State can regulate minority institutions by excellence in education: HC" -- and a sub-heading -- "Have to give away rights in national interest".

"The construction of the news item from the reading thereof is such that it appears that the court has formed an opinion into the matter of the rights of a minority institution to appoint teachers of its choice vis-a-vis the exercise of the State's power to regulate educational institutions run by minorities," the High Court had noted.

It had also said that similar news items were published in "The Indian Express" and "Divya Bhaskar".

"The sensational way of reporting of the observations of the court gave an impression to the common people that the court has already formed an opinion, which is nothing but a misrepresentation of the court proceedings," the High Court had said.

 The High Court had on August 13 issued a notice to the editors of the three newspapers, calling upon them to answer as to "whether they got authentication from any officer of the court before making the news items, that too in a sensational way, or simply used YouTube live-streaming videos to make the news out of nothing".