Why Gujarat High Court ordered ToI, Indian Express, Divya Bhaskar to republish apologies for wrong report

The Gujarat High Court on Monday rejected the apologies published by the Times of India (ToI), Indian Express and Divya Bhaskar for incorrectly reporting court proceedings. .A Bench of Chief Justice (CJ) Sunita Agarwal and Justice Pranav Trivedi noted that the apologies published by the three newspapers on August 23 were not in bold letters or prominently placed as was directed by the Court on August 22. "Why have you not published these apologies in bold letter?" the CJ asked the counsel representing the newspapers.The counsel clarified that the apologies are in black, bold letters."Nobody can read it," the CJ responded, flagging her dissatisfaction at the small size of the apology."You should have given it a complete headline that the apology is in relation to what. Who is going to understand what is the apology for.. You should say apology for wrong report. It should come up. The report should have been there with the apology," CJ said..The Court, therefore, rejected the apology affidavits submitted by the three newspapers before the Court."The affidavits by the editors of three newspapers namely, The Indian Express, ToI and Divya Bhaskar, were placed in the court today, tendering public apology in the newspaper about the reports published in the newspaper edition dated 13-08-2024, of the ongoing hearing in this group of petitions are not to the satisfaction of the court. All three affidavits are rejected accordingly," the Court said in its order.The Court granted the three newspapers three days for publishing fresh apologies."We grant them three days further time to tender public apology in newspaper published by them in bold letters in the first page, clearly intimating the public at large about wrong reporting made by them in the newspapers published on August 13, 2024 about the hearing of this matter," the Bench directed..The Court had on August 13 issued notice to the regional editors of Times of India, Indian Express and Divya Bhaskar seeking their explanation for giving a "false and distorted narration" of court proceedings in a matter relating to rights of aided minority institutions.The newspapers had subsequently tendered their apologies in their affidavits filed before the Court but the Court was not satisfied with the same.It had then passed an order on August 22 to publish apologies in their respective newspapers in a manner which reflects clearly that the the reporter and the editor were wrong in reporting the Court’s observations.Subsequently, the same was done on August 23.However, when the matter was taken up for hearing on Monday, the Bench noted that the apologies published were too small.."When you are creating a sensational news, then it is so huge letters, bold letters with some catch words and catch phrases. Editor should express remorse for publishing this kind of news item.. where is the remorse?" she asked. "It is an unconditional apology your lordships," the Counsel explained."No, it is not an unconditional apology. It is only an eye-wash. Both the editors have tendered apologies in the same language. We are not accepting this kind of apology," the CJ responded.She also went on to warn that the Court may issue contempt of court notice against the editors, if their counsel insist that the apologies published were in compliance with the court's order."I will take instructions and publish fresh apologies," the counsel told the Court."This is not as joke. You are playing with the reputation of the court, you are playing with the court proceedings. You cannot do this. We have a strong exception the way the court proceedings are being reported by the newspapers," the CJ said. .On the counsel's request for the Court to grant another opportunity for publishing a fresh apology, the CJ clarified that the fresh apology should be in bold letters, in bigger size along with the news item and should clearly mention that the apology is being tendered by the editors.The CJ further directed that fresh apology should be on the front page on the top column. "There should be no news item but the public apology," she added. .The counsel who appeared for Divya Bhaskar also explained to the court that the reporters may have misunderstood the dialogue between the Bench and the Bar while reporting the proceedings."They are the reporters, they are not lay persons. If they don't understand the sanctity of the court proceedings, then they can be prohibited from reporting any court proceeding," the Court said..The CJ further went on to ask the counsel present as to who would pay the costs of notice issued by the court and the judicial time wasted in passing the orders.However, the counsel suggested that instead of imposing monitory costs, the newspapers may be directed to give wide publicity to the next Lok Adalat session of the Court by carrying news articles on the same.The Court agreed and directed all three newspapers to take the details from the appropriate official and start publishing the same. .The Court also granted the three newspapers three days for publishing a fresh apology..Senior Advocate Devang Nanvati appeared for Indian Express and Times of India. Advocate SP Majmudar appeared for Indian Express and Advocate Garima Malhotra represented Times of India.Advocate Maulik G Nanavati appeared for Divya Bhaskar.