SC upholds 1-month sentence of journalist who called lawyer ‘third-rate’

The Supreme Court on Friday (December 17) dismissed an appeal by a journalist convicted for a defamatory article and confirmed his one-month jail sentence.

While hearing the appeal, Justice Surya Kant said: “You called someone a ‘third-rate lawyer’ in your article. This is the kind of language you use and claim that you’re a journalist.”

Justice Hima Kohli, who was on the bench led by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana, said: “See the language of your articles.”

Calling the sentence “liberal”, the CJI said: “This is yellow journalism. It is liberal that it is only one-month imprisonment.”