New Delhi: Four senior journalists of city daily Mid-day, who were held guilty of contempt of court by the Delhi High Court for publishing articles against former Chief Justice of India Y K Sabharwal, have approached the Supreme Court against their conviction.

The High Court had on September 11 found M K Tayal, Editor of Midday, S K Akhtar (the then Publisher), Vitusha Oberoi (Resident Editor) and Irfan (Cartoonist) guilty of contempt of court. The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on Friday.

It has been contended in the petition filed before the Apex Court that the order of High Court was "unreasonable" and "unjustified" and the tabloid had published the article on the basis of documentary evidence. The petitioner also attached newspaper clippings in which some former Chief Justices had opined that there should be judicial enquiry in the allegations labelled against the former Chief Justice Sabharwal.

However, they refrained from seeking any kind of enquiry in the case.

The High Court had passed the verdict after taking suo-motu cognizance of the articles published in the city tabloid. The order was pronounced on the articles written in the paper with regard to a judgment delivered by a Bench headed by Justice Sabharwal on the sealing issue in the capital which the paper said was intended to benefit his sons business.

The article published on May 18 alleged that Justice Sabharwal s order on sealing issue in the capital was intended to benefit his sons business.