The Madras High Court today quashed the chargesheet filed against columnist S Gurumurthy for refusing to divulge information and answer questions put to him by the Tamil Nadu police in connection with the September 2004 murder of temple official Sankararaman.
He was also charged under section 14 of the Press and Registration of Books Act 1867 for his articles published in an English Daily on November 23, 2004 and November 24, 2004 and in a Tamil Magazine on December one, 2004 pertaining to the murder case and the Kanchi Seer Jayendra Saraswathi, who has been listed prime accused in the case.
The articles were titled 'The Sankaracharya stands out like Abhimanyu' and 'Unless the case is reinvestigated, justice will not be done.' Quashing the case against Gurumurthy, Justice M Jeyapal observed that the columnist had written articles expressing his point of view as a journalist.
"Irked by the same, it appears the chief investigating officer (IO) summoned him (Gurumurthy) under section 160 CrPC (investigating officer's power to summon witness) and started grilling him which of course did not take the IO anywhere," the Judge said.
Stating that usually a journalist collected information from sources and published it for public consumption, the Judge said "no one can attribute special knowledge to the journalist about the information he has vented in the article.
Observing that even before the article was published the IO had got material information in the shape of the FIR, the Judge said it was not as if Gurumurthy withheld vital information which led the IO to grope in the dark. The Judge held that the petitioner was not supposed to answer any question relating to the article written by him but was bound to answer only with regard to the murder of Sankararaman.
A person, who does not have personal knowledge about the information needed, cannot be asked to come out with such information, he said.
The Judge noted that Gurumurthy had said that he knew nothing about the murder.
The Judge said it had become the practice of IOs, dealing with sensational cases, to furnish information surreptiously to the press facilitating it to conduct extra-judicial trial.
Stating that the court found no prima facie case was made out against the journalist, the Judge said Gurumurthy cannot be directed to undergo the ordeal of trial and hence the proceeding against him on the file of a Kancheepuram Judicial Magistrate is quashed.
