Ex-editor sentenced in defamation case filed by Himanta Biswa Sarma

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A district court of Assam has sentenced a former editor of a Guwahati-based English daily to simple imprisonment of one month in a defamation case filed by state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma nine years ago.

Judicial Magistrate 1st class of Kamrup district, U Borh, also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Bikash Sarma, the then editor of 'The Sentinel' newspaper.

Upon failing to pay the fine, the journalist would undergo another month of imprisonment, the court noted.

However, in the event of realising the fine amount, it would be given to Himanta Biswa Sarma, the complainant, as compensation.

The defamation case was filed in 2010 by Himanta Biswa Sarma, who was then a Congress minister in the Tarun Gogoi government, against The Sentinel's editor, associate editor, and publisher, and Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi.

Barring the editor, others were acquitted as the prosecution failed to prove their role in the case.

The case was filed after the newspaper published a news item saying Gogoi alleged in a press conference that the minister had taken bribe from a person.

During the course of the trial, Gogoi denied making such an allegation.

Though the judgement was delivered on March 20, certified copy of it was made available to the media on Thursday at a press conference by former additional advocate general of the state, Devajit Saikia, on behalf of the minister.