New Delhi: The Supreme Court today (Dec 8, 2003) admitted a petition filed by five journalists of newspaper 'The Hindu' challenging a Tamil Nadu Assembly resolution sentencing them to 15 days imprisonment for breach of privilege of the House, and referred the matter to a five-member Constitution Bench.

Continuing the stay of arrest warrants issued against the journalists by the Speaker of Tamil Nadu Assembly K Kalimuthu on November 7, a Bench comprising Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice B N Srikrishna said the matter involves interpretation of Article 194(3) providing for powers of the House and right to free speech guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

The Bench said, "interpretation of various Constitutional provisions are involved. We refer the matter to a five-member Constitution Bench."

The Tamil Nadu Assembly action was based on the report of Privileges Committee, which went into the news report, an analysis and an editorial based on the earlier two. Objection was taken to certain descriptions of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's speech in the House.

The five journalists of "The Hindu" are Editor N Ravi, Executive Editor Malini Parathasarthy, Publisher S Rangarajan, Chief of Bureau V Jayant and Special Correspondent Radha Venkatesan.

PTI