Supreme Court states that Editor is liable for news items published
Posted on: 27/Mar/2013 10:47:07 AM
The Supreme Court passed a judgment saying that the Editor of a publication is responsible for any news item published and cannot pass on the buck to the Resident Editor or any other employee. The verdict comes in the wake of a petition filed by the Taluk Malatdar and Executive Magistrate of Vadodara Gambirsinh R. Dekare against the Editor of Gujarati newspaper ‘Sandesh’ Falgunbhai Chimanbhai Patel. He stated that a news item in the newspaper’s September 1999 edition was defamatory.
The Bench comprising of Justices C.K. Prasad and V. Gopalagowda said, ‘From the scheme of the press and Registration of Books (PRB) Act, it is evident that it is the Editor who controls the selection of matter that is published. Further, every copy of the newspaper is required to contain the names of the owner and the Editor and once the name of the Editor is shown, he shall be held responsible in any civil and criminal proceedings. The presumption would be that he was the person who controlled the selection of the matter that was published. However, we hasten to add that this presumption under Section 7 of the Act is a rebuttable presumption and it would be deemed sufficient evidence unless the contrary is proved.’
