KATHMANDU, March 3: The Supreme Court on Friday postponed the recording of statements of Kantipur Publications officials in a contempt of court case for Sunday.
Acting on a contempt of court case lodged by advocate Toyanath Dhungana, the apex court on February 26 had ordered Kantipur officials to appear before the court within three days.
SC shifts contempt case against Kantipur to another bench
Kantipur Publications Managing Director Kailash Sirohiya, Director Swastika Sirohiya, Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Sharma and journalist Krishna Gyawali had visited the Supreme Court at 2 pm on Friday. Plaintiff Dhungana has claimed that the news reports, editorials and other articles published in Kantipur with regard to the variations in the date of birth of Chief Justice Parajuli were contemptuous and intended to drag the chief justice into controversy.
The plaintiff has demanded one year jail or a fine of Rs 10,000 or both for the Kantipur officials.
"We will appear at the court at 10.30 am on Sunday along with an application," Sudhir Sharma, Editor-in-Chief of Kantipur daily told reporters. According to him, they will request the court to shift the case to another bench if Chief Justice Parajuli himself tried to oversee the case.
CJ Parajuli's single bench, while issuing the show cause notice, had also stated that various news reports, editorials and other articles about the chief justice published in Kantipur were biased and slanderous.
The bench also issued an interim order to the Nepal Press Council instructing it to monitor whether Kantipur has breached the code of conduct for journalists and instruct Kantipur publications to abide by the conduct code for journalists strictly.
