The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the response of Arnab Goswami and his newly-launched Republic TV on Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s civil defamation suit against them.
In his plea filed on May 26,, Mr. Tharoor has claimed damages and compensation of ₹2 crore from the journalist and his channel for allegedly making defamatory remarks against him while airing news from May 8 to 13 relating to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.
“Bring down the rhetoric. You can put out your story, you can put out the facts. You cannot call him names. That is uncalled for,” Justice Manmohan said while issuing notice to Mr. Goswami and the channel and seeking their replies by August 16, the next date of hearing.
Senior advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for Mr. Tharoor, said he should be protected and the channel and the journalist directed to justify the statements made against him.
Senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Mr. Goswami and the channel, said they would justify each and every statement made by them and therefore, there was no need for any interim order injuncting them.
The MP from Thiruvananthapuram has also sought a direction from the court to restrain the channel from broadcasting any show relating to the death of his wife till the investigation is completed by the Delhi Police.
