defamation

Newschannel IndiaTV’s producers Rajat Sharma and Ritu Dhawan sent a defamation notice to their former employee Tanu Sharma who had made sexual harassment allegations against the channel and its senior executive Anita Sharma, reported the Caravan’s online publication, Vantage.

The notice states:{jcomments lock}

“The defamatory and vilification campaign […] is being carried out with an ulterior motive of reckoning vengeance against our clients. […] immediately stop such vilification and defamatory campaign [and on Newslaundry and www.aapkibaat.com to] immediately remove the objectionable articles,” “issue a public statement apologizing … and circulate the same on all platforms including online websites, social networking sites, twitter handle, facebook accounts and all print or digital media.”

After threatening to sue the authors and publishers of the book Gas Wars – Crony Capitalism and the Ambanis in April for Rs 100 crore, Reliance Industries (RIL) yesterday issued a press release to announce the release of a 56-page presentation and promotional video.

Two members of staff and four students of a Kerala polytechnic were arrested, then bailed, after publishing a campus magazine that contained a photograph of Narendra Modi alongside Adolf Hitler, George W Bush, Osama Bin Laden and others in a "negative faces" collage, reported the PTI.

They, and the principal who was not arrested due to ill health, were first booked by the police on Tuesday under Section 153 of the Indian Penal Code (provoking with the intent to create rioting), with local BJP workers protesting and burning copies of the student magazine, according to the Times of India. The page, featuring "dreadful personalities" also featured terrorist Ajmal Kasab, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and sandalwood smuggler Veerappan.

The student editor of the publication said: "We didn't have any motive to malign the prime minister. When we decided the content in mid-2013, majority of the media and activists were against Modi in the backdrop of 2002 riots in Gujarat."

Responding to the incarceration of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, who refused to pay Rs 10,000 bail in a criminal defamation case filed by BJP politician Nitin Gadkari before a magistrate, advocate and AAP leader Prashant Bhushan said that it was a travesty of law that “an honest man [Arvind Kejriwal] is in jail, while a corrupt person [Gadkari, allegedly] is outside.’’

“We do not agree with the order of the court. If Mr. Kejriwal is not released on Friday, the order will be challenged in a higher court... It is not necessary to have a bail bond for those who are ready to give an undertaking that they will remain present for court proceedings." The party has also threatened protests. [The Hindu]

Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal has been jailed in judicial lock-up after refusing to pay Rs 10,000 bail in a criminal defamation case over having called another politician a thief in January and including him in a list of "India's most corrupt".

Kejriwal said he would not pay the bail in the defamation case, filed by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari in Patiala House court in Delhi, out of principle because it was a political case. "I am ready to go to jail. We are setting precedence. I am not saying that give this treatment only to me. Give it to all," he told the magistrate. [NDTV]

The Delhi high court hearing former Supreme Court judge Swatanter Kumar's defamation case, would wait until the Supreme Court had decided on the transfer petition by an former law student intern who alleged she was sexually harassed by him.

Khaitan & Co and Mulla & Mulla have served defamation notices on behalf of members of the Reliance family on authors of the book Gas Wars, who are defended by Amicus Juris.

Sahara, which is on a money-collecting drive from employees to gather Rs 5,000 crore to pay for its boss' bail, has sent a defamation notice to milk maker Amul's owner, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation.

The famous Amul girl marketing campaign regularly makes fun of current affairs topics, and in this case captioned an Amul girl comic strip with "besahara parivar" and "hard to share" - a pun on Sahara's old slogan "Sahara parivar" - the Sahara family - and the Hindi word besahara, meaning lacking in (family) assistance. [Times of India] [Amul comic ad image]

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) filed criminal defamation notice against Congress Party chief campaigner Rahul Gandhi, who had said at a rally on 6 March that "RSS people killed Gandhiji". The RSS objected that it had not killed Mahatma Gandhi at all, and that the remarks by Rahul had "harmed the reputation of our organisation", filing a criminal complaint today with a Bhiwandi magistrate [PTI]

The next hearing will be on 19 May in the Delhi high court case filed by Swatanter Kumar against three media companies and an NUJS Kolkata graduate who alleged the former Supreme Court judge had sexually harrassed her while she interned with him, reported the PTI.

The chilling effect of the Delhi high court’s gag order it the Swatanter Kumar case is only the latest in a long line of examples of the media losing out in its fight to report on the judiciary, argues advocate Prashant Reddy.

For all intents and purposes, a lot of credit should go to Karanjawala & Co, for they have proven what difference a lawyer can make (or a team of six or more, judging by the number cc’d to my recent email correspondence with the firm).

The Delhi high court’s order, restricting media coverage of the sexual harassment allegations against Swatanter Kumar, should give the Supreme Court cause to consider its Sahara gag order decision, argues Chinamyi Arun, research director at the Centre for Communication Governance at NLU Delhi and fellow at the CIS Bangalore.

After sending a takedown request for a photograph last Thursday, Karanjawala & Co, representing ex-SC judge Swatanter Kumar in a defamation case, declined to specify which parts of Legally India’s coverage relating to the case should be removed.

Karanjawala & Co, the law firm representing Swatanter Kumar in his Rs 5 crore defamation suit, has sent Legally India a legal notice for the removal of an anonyised photograph of the ex-judge.

The Delhi high court yesterday restrained anyone from publishing or broadcasting the detailed sexual harassment allegations against Swatanter Kumar, without stating prominently that they are “mere allegations”, as a battery of counsel appeared for the former Supreme Court judge in the court yesterday.