The case’s trigger disappeared after Tamil Nadu’s assembly withdrew its punishment of journalists in 2004. The court plans to record the withdrawal and dispose of the petitions.
India’s Supreme Court may close a long-running dispute over legislative privilege and press freedom. A lawyer for the Tamil Nadu assembly told the court that the cause for the case no longer existed after the assembly withdrew in 2004 a resolution sentencing journalists to 15 days in prison.
The case stems from an assembly resolution passed on November 7, 2003. Arrest warrants were issued for the editors of The Hindu and Murasoli newspapers and several journalists. The Supreme Court stayed the arrests, leaving the petitions unresolved for nearly 23 years.
Chief Justice Surya Kant said a seven-judge bench would meet on Tuesday, place the withdrawn resolution on record and dispose of petitions filed by N. Ravi and S. Selvam. The proceedings may therefore end without a ruling on the merits of legislative privilege and freedom of speech.