The main legal point established in the judgment is the court's power to issue necessary directions to restrain exaggerated or incorrect reporting by the media that affects the administration of justice or the reputation of an institution or any class of persons.

JUDGMENT :

Vineet Saran, J.

These two writ petitions have been filed with regard to an incident which is alleged to be occurred in the premises of the High Court on 07.02.2017.

2. The first writ petition is filed by the High Court Bar Association, Odisha, on behalf of the lawyers of Orissa High Court praying that a Judicial Commission be constituted to enquire into the alleged incident which had occurred on 07.02.2017 and also for issue of a direction to the Press as well as Electronic Media not to publish or telecast colourable, exaggerated, unverified and unnecessary news on the issue involved in the matter, as it will not only worsen the situation, but completely tarnish and damage the reputation of the institution.

3. The second writ petition has been filed by a practicing advocate of Orissa High Court with similar prayers. For the present, the prayer which is pressed by the petitioners is for an interim direction to the Print and Electronic Media not to publish any news with regard to the alleged incident, as the same is tarnishing the image of the High Court as an institution, and lawyers in general.

4. We shall treat the writ petition No. 2711 of 2017 as the leading petition. In the said writ petition, the State of Odisha; Director General and Inspector General of Police; and the informant of the incident; are arrayed as opposite parties 1, 2 and 3 respectively. Various Print and Electronic Media Publishers/Channels have also been arrayed as opposite parties no. 4 to 16. The Registrar General of Orissa High Court has been arrayed as proforma opposite party no.17.

5. We have heard Sri Ashok Mohanty and Sri Ashok Parija, learned Senior Counsel along with Sri Asim Amitav Das, Sri K.P. Mishra and Sri Karunakar Das, learned counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner in the first writ petition; as well as Sri Shivshankar Mohanty-petitioner, a practicing advocate, in the second writ petition. We have also heard Sri R.K. Mohapatra, learned Government Advocate appearing on behalf of the State-opposite parties. Sri S.P. Mishra, learned Advocate General, was also requested to address the Court on the issues involved in these writ petitions.

6. The case of the petitioner in the first writ petition is that the petitioner is a Registered Society consisting of practicing lawyers of the High Court of Orissa, which has filed this writ petition on behalf of the lawyers’ community as a whole. The facts, as borne out from the record, are that on 7.2.2017, opposite party no.3 (hereinafter referred to as ‘informant’) who is an Inspector of Police, working in CID, Crime Branch, had visited the High Court for some official work and that while she was coming down from the Lift No.5 in the premises of the High Court, it is alleged by the informant that certain advocates had misbehaved with her by leaning against her body. It is stated that the said incident was reported by the informant to the Superintendent of Police, CID, Crime Branch, who in turn vide letter dated 08.02.2017 intimated the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Cuttack to take necessary legal action on the grievance petition of opposite party no.3, on the basis of which First Information Report was registered on 9.2.2017, a copy of which has been filed as Annexure-1 to the writ petition. In the petition, it is stated that even before the First Information Report could be registered, there was a press report in the daily Oriya newspaper “Sambad” on 8.2.2017 with the headline (as translated in English) as “Even the Lady Police Inspector was not spared”. In the body of the said article, it was mentioned that certain persons in the Lift No.5 of the High Court premises had misbehaved with the informant.

7. Learned Senior Counsel Sri Ashok Mohanty has submitted that not only the above report had been published in the newspaper on 08.02.2017 even prior to any case being registered, on 9.2.2017 in the same newspaper, there was another article with the heading (as translated in English) as “Alleged