Introduction:

On Monday, the Gujarat High Court rejected the affidavits submitted by three prominent newspapers—Times of India, The Indian Express, and Divya Bhaskar—regarding their public apologies for inaccurately reporting on ongoing court proceedings related to a batch of petitions challenging amendments to the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Act. The court found the newspapers’ initial apologies inadequate and directed them to issue more prominent corrections.

Arguments of Both Sides:

The Times of India and The Indian Express argued that they had issued public apologies in their respective newspapers as directed by the court. They provided affidavits stating that the apologies were published with bold headlines and included unconditional acknowledgments of their reporting errors. The senior counsel for these newspapers claimed that the apologies, published the day after the court’s order, were comprehensive and adhered to the court’s requirements.

Divya Bhaskar’s counsel offered an unconditional apology for the reporting errors, acknowledging the confusion and admitting that the reporting did not meet journalistic standards. The counsel expressed willingness to comply with further directives to amend the apology.

Court’s Judgment:

The Gujarat High Court found the initial public apologies insufficient. Justice Sanjeev Narula criticized the newspapers for not making the apology sufficiently prominent and clear. The court observed that the apologies were not explicitly linked to the erroneous reports and did not adequately address the specific nature of the misreporting. The Chief Justice noted that the apologies were similarly worded across the newspapers and lacked a genuine acknowledgment of the error.

The court mandated that the newspapers issue a new public apology prominently displayed on the front page in bold letters, explicitly detailing the nature of the reporting mistakes. The newspapers were granted an additional three days to comply with this order. Furthermore, the court suggested that the newspapers could mitigate the impact of their misreporting by promoting public awareness about the upcoming Lok Adalat.

The Chief Justice expressed strong disapproval of the newspapers’ handling of the situation, emphasizing the importance of accurate court reporting and the harm caused by sensational and misleading news.