The Wire earns Supreme Court ire for yellow journalism

The Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed news portal The Wire and its journalists for being in a hurry to publish a story on Jay Shah, son of Union home minister Amit Shah, saying it was "nothing short of yellow journalism".

The strong remarks came after The Wire journalists chose to withdraw their petition, which had sought quashing of a defamation case filed against them by Jay Shah. The proceedings in the defamation case are going on in a Gujarat court.

A bench of Justices Arun Mishra, MR Shah and BR Gavai was particularly upset that the news portal had given only a seven hour-window to Jay Shah to rebut allegations – over financial matters – against him before going public.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal who appeared for the portal had to face the heat as the bench shared a similar instance where the judiciary "suffered" on account of such reporting. Reacting to Sibal's request to withdraw, the bench felt that the "truth" is never told to the country in important cases as they get withdrawn.

The bench told Sibal, "This institution has suffered a lot for this. We are worried as judges of this court as we have suffered. What is this kind of journalism that has developed in our country? After all, we are a civilised country. Do you give notice to anybody and ask him to respond within 10 hours and before a response can come, the allegation is made public."

The court was possibly referring to a recent allegation of sexual harassment against the Chief Justice of India that was published with less than seven hours given for the Supreme Court Registry to rebut.

"It is easy to make allegations and malign anyone as the damage is already done," the bench said, adding, "This is nothing short of yellow journalism...Freedom of press is supreme but it cannot be one-way traffic."

Allowing the petition to be withdrawn, the bench made a parting shot: "The way in which short notice is given for a person to explain failing which he/she is maligned, this threatening should not be given before a matter gets published. We have kept the question open to be considered in a later case."

Sibal realised that this order could pose difficulty as his clients have to face trial. He said, "With these observations, I will surely be convicted." The bench added a line that the observations won't affect the case on merits.

At this point, Jay Shah's lawyer senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul told the SC that the journalists who filed the story have enjoyed a stay on trial for nearly 18 months while his client has suffered all this while. The bench directed that the trial be completed as expeditiously as possible.