On Monday, the Delhi High Court issued a notice to journalist Arnab Goswami and his news channel, Republic TV, over Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s defamation plea. “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,” said Justice Manmohan, while issuing the notice. The court has sought their replies by August 16, the next date of hearing.
The Congress MP had filed a civil defamation suit against Goswami and Republic TV on Saturday and sought compensation of Rs 2 crore for allegedly making defamatory remarks against him, in relation to his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death.
The lawsuit was filed by advocates Muhammad Ali Khan and Gaurav Gupta, who claimed that the channel played sensationalised recordings to appease the viewers and create a fresh controversy.
“It is not out of place to say that defendants (Goswami and TV channel) broadcast news reports and alleged expose’ which were intended to lead the viewers to believe that the deceased was murdered either by plaintiff (Tharoor) or at the instance of the plaintiff. Such a broadcast clearly has the potential of adversely impacting the ongoing investigation into the death of the deceased,” the plea said.
Tharoor also said Goswami aired similar news when he was working in Times Now earlier, but the news which was restrained by the National Broadcasting Standards Authority. The police were investigating the matter and had also registered and FIR.“It is pertinent to mention that the Delhi Police took statements from a number of people, including him,” the suit said.
Also read: Shashi Tharoor files defamation suit against Arnab Goswami for 2 Cr
