Editors fined for Ayodhya report

DNA Reports Editors fined for Ayodhya report

The Allahabad high court has fined the editor of an English wire service and editor and reporter of a regional Hindi daily for projecting that its Ayodhya verdict of last year was aided by certain rare books supplied by libraries owned by the government or its instrumentalities.

A bench of justices SU Khan, Sudhir Agarwal and VK Dixit had ordered three-way division of the disputed land — one-third going to Sunni Waqf Board, one-third to Nirmohi Akhara and one-third to Ram Lalla.

The judges referred to various scriptures, historical books and other relevant material.

However, four years prior to the judgment, the wire service and the newspaper flashed a story saying an officer of the court was reading books to facilitate the judges with the historical perspective of the age-old dispute between Hindus and Muslims.

The local lawyers’ body drew the court’s attention to this story in 2006 and sought action.

Allahabad high court said it had asked an officer to make requisite books available to it, but that did not mean he was authorised to render opinion after studying material.

Taking the media head on, it referred to the post-judgment time saying it appears that in some cases, “people try to highlight a few words in a manner so as to create a sensation. The casualty is correctness of information”.