While ensuring the rights of journalists and protecting a journalist from atrocities has been an issue world over, here is a good news. An Indian journalist based in Bhubaneswar has finally got a verdict from the Orissa High Court after 18 years of legal battle with his management.

A senior journalist Dwarika Mohan Mishra went to the labour court in the year 1989 against the ‘Samaja’ (Oriya Daily) Management, where he was working as a Special Correspondent, claiming for his salary and other benefits as per the Palekar Award.

Understanding the genuinity of claims made by Mr. Mishra and the valuable services he has made to the newspaper and the society while working as a journalist and the conditions of his service, the labour court instructed the Samaja management to pay the dues amounting to 1,85,362.00. This happened in 1996 after 7 years long legal battle.

Instead of respecting the rights of a journalist and paying him the dues he deserved, the Samaja management extended the legal battle for another 11 years by filing a petition in the provincial High Court against the order of the labour court claiming that the case was out of the jurisdiction of labour court. The management pleaded before the higher court to invalidate the order issued by the labour court.

The High Court judgement came on March 11, 2008 dismissed the petition made by the newspaper management by upholding the judgement of the labour court and directing the Samaja management to pay the dues of the journalist by 3 months of the judgement.

The judgement is definitely a hope for the journalists of India who face atrocities from their management. But still there are some issues to be resolved.

The primary issue is, it’s a delayed justice and the judiciary didn’t consider how the journalist survived through last 18 years. And the other issue is whether the organisation that lingered the battle for so long on claims, which didn’t stand in the court, should be punished for putting a journalist under inconvenience, financial pressure and mental torture?

These issues are not confined to the case of Dwarika Mohan Mishra alone, but have a greater relevance in the cases of all other journalists who are fighting similar battles or working with professional insecurities.