Journalist Arnab Goswami and his news channel, Republic TV , were on Monday asked by the Delhi High Court to “bring down the rhetoric” against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor.
Mr. Tharoor has filed a ₹2 crore defamation suit against them for alleged slanderous remarks relating to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.
Interview issue
Justice Manmohan said Mr. Goswami and his channel can put out stories by stating facts related to investigation into Ms. Pushkar’s death, but cannot call the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram a “criminal”. The court also said that just because Mr. Tharoor wasn’t coming to their show or not giving an interview, it cannot be a reason to say that he was “running away”, as was said on the news channel.
A person has a “right to be silent”, it said with regard to the lack of response from Mr. Tharoor. The court added that “someone has not understood how our law operates”.
‘Presumptive’
These observations by the court came as it issued a notice to the journalist and his channel seeking their response to Mr. Tharoor’s plea. The court didn’t pass any interim order injuncting the channel from airing its news, but said “whatever be the provocation, you [Mr. Goswami] cannot call him a criminal masquerading as a politician. That is uncalled for and it is presumptive...You cannot use language like this. You cannot call him names. Bring down the rhetoric,” it said.
Senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for the journalist and the channel, said he will advise his clients accordingly.
Mr. Sethi also said his clients will place on record the justification for the statements made against Mr. Tharoor.
‘Daily news on death’
The court listed the matter for hearing on August 16.
During the arguments, senior advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for Mr. Tharoor, said the channel has been airing 3-5 hours long news daily on Ms. Pushkar’s death since it was launched on May 6 and making defamatory statements against the MP.
The lawyer said the channel and the journalist have condemned Mr. Tharoor as guilty and that he should be arrested. The court said a journalist has a right to investigate, which cannot be curbed, but added that it has to be tempered and balanced.
Ms. Pushkar was found dead in a five-star hotel on the night of January 17, 2014.
