Bengaluru: The High Court has passed an interim order on Wednesday directing the chief secretary and the authorities under him not to act against journalists Ravi Belagere and Anil Raj, based on the resolution passed by the Legislative Assembly until further orders are issued.
Justice A S Bopanna adjourned the hearing on the petitions filed by the journalists.
The petitioners had questioned the constitutional validity of the resolution passed by the Assembly on June 21, 2017, sentencing them to imprisonment based on two separate reports of the Commissioner of Police, which had found the petitioner-editors guilty of breaching privileges for publishing “defamatory and false” articles against the three legislators in the two tabloids.
The Assembly, on November 21, 2017, reiterated its resolution of June 21 after the High Court, in connection with earlier petitions filed by the editors against the June resolution, had allowed them to submit a representation to the Assembly through the Speaker for reconsideration of the earlier resolution.