Justice Akhtar Tahir also issued a summons for Padang Serai MP N Gobalakrishnan to appear before the court to explain his comments made in the Utusan article criticising defence lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon.
Addressing Utusan editor-in-chief Abdul Aziz Ishak (top photo, far right) and journalist Raja Syahrir Abu Bakar (top photo, far left), who wrote the article, Akhtar repeatedly stressed that the statements in the article related to the trial clearly went against the rules.
"The statements in this article are prohibited because the case is still on-going," he said, addressing both Abdul Aziz and Raja Syahrir.
Manjeet (right) last week raised the court's attention to the article, saying it was a personal attack against him by claiming he "always smears the government" (selalu burukkan kerajaan).
The article repeated twice that Manjeet was a member of PKR advisor Anwar Ibrahim's defence team in the opposition leader's on-going sodomy trial, which is untrue.
It also insinuated that Manjeet had become a tool of the opposition in running down both the police and the courts for operating under the thumb of the BN ruling coalition.
Akhtar asked both Abdul Aziz and Raja Syahrir if they were aware ofsub judice, to which both replied in the affirmative.
Akhtar: Were either of you aware of the restriction?
Abdul Aziz/Raja Syahrir: Yes.
Akhtar: So why did you run it (article)? Was it deliberate?
Raja Syahrir: I am aware of the restriction, but I did not know that it (article) would be (sub judice).
Article 'inaccurate and ill-informed'
To this, Akhtar continued his reprimand of both Abdul Aziz and Raja Syahrir, saying that the statements made in the article were inaccurate and ill-informed as neither of them had covered the case previously.
“If people comment about a case in a coffeeshop, you can't stop that because it is very difficult, but you cannot publish comments on a case in a newspaper.
“It is a very simple principle. You cannot run comments on an on-going case. You can report testimonies and what happens in court, but not comments on an on-going case.
“I am issuing a warning so that this does not happen again. I hope the media take note. I will not take stern action, but if it happens again, we will have to take other action,” Akhtar said.
Akhtar also ordered Gobalakrishnan (left), who was quoted in the article, to be issued a summons to appear before the court to explain himself.
He issued the order based on paragraph five of the article, which said Gobalakrishnan was commenting on Manjeet's conduct in citing the prosecution for contempt of court.
Towards the end, Shafee Abdullah, who represented both Abdul Aziz and Raja Syahrir, said that before the pair were even summoned to stand before the High Court, they had asked for his advice on what can and cannot be published.
Akhtar, however, posited that it would have been better if they had sought legal advice before, and not after, the article was published.
Trial to resume on Sept 12
Meanwhile, the Sosilawati trial is scheduled to resume on Sept 12 after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri break.
Four people - former lawyer N Pathmanabhan, 42, and farm hands T Thilaiyagan 20, R Matan, 21 and K Kathavarayan, 31, are jointly charged with murdering the cosmetics millionaire and three others.
The other victims are Sosilawati's driver Kamaruddin Shamsuddin, 47, lawyer Ahmad Kamal Abdul Karim, 32, and bank officer Noorhisham Mohammad, 38.
The murders were alleged to have happened at Jalan Tanjung Layang in Tanjung Sepat, Banting, between 8.30pm and 9.45pm on Aug 30 last year.
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