P&H High Court initiates contempt case against The Hindu, Dainik Bhaskar over Dera Sacha Sauda propaganda ads

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has initiated suo motu contempt of court proceedings against the editors-in-chief and publishers of The Hindu and Dainik Bhaskar for publishing Dera Sacha Sauda advertisements claiming that its chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, was being targeted as part of a conspiracy.

The matter was today listed before a bench of Justice Vinod S Bhardwaj and Justice Ravinder Malik.

The Court listed it for consideration on November 25.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is currently serving a 20-year sentence for raping his two disciples. His appeal challenging the conviction and sentence is pending before the High Court.

The High Court in 2024 and in March this year had acquitted him in two different murders cases.

On September 12, the newspapers published a front-page advertisement which claimed that there was a conspiracy against Ram Rahim.

The Hindu later issued a public apology for publishing the advertisement following public backlash.

The issue has now got revived in view of the suo motu contempt proceedings initiated on an order passed by Justice Subhas Mehla who said the newspaper advertisements insinuated that courts were a party to the alleged conspiracy.

The judge said that the advertisements were an attempt to mobilize public opinion and influence the judicial process, adding that such action directly obstructs the administration of justice.

"On a prima facie consideration of the aforesaid advertisement publications, this Court is of the view that the contents thereof may have the tendency to scandalise or lower the authority of this Court," the judge added.

Thus, he opined that the matter warrants examination of the publications in contempt jurisdiction.

"Accordingly, this Court takes suo motu cognizance of criminal contempt under Article 215 of the Constitution of India read with Section 2(c)(i), 2(c)(iii) and 15(1) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971," Justice Mehla said in the reference order passed last month.