The Supreme Court (SC) has summoned three journalists including the editor of Jana Astha weekly to face the contempt of court charge filed against them.

The charge was filed in response to a news report by the weekly last week linking Chief Justice Dilip Kumar Poudel to a sex scandal.

SC judge Pawan Kumar Ojha issued the summons to editor Kishore Shrestha, managing director Rajendra Sthapit and sub-editor Chudamani Bhattarai, along with acting chief of the Jaisideval prison office Rajendra Adhikari to attend the court on June 25. The bench has said that defendants can neither seek the extension of time given to them to attend the court not can they send their representatives to the court.

Meanwhile, Nepal Bar Association has regretted the publication of news in which the journalists themselves were not totally confident regarding its truth.