The Delhi High Court issued a notice to Republic TV head Arnab Goswami on Monday, after Congress leader Shashi Tharoor filed a defamation suit against him. The court told Goswami’s lawyer that the TV anchor is free to report on the facts of the murder case involving the death of Tharoor’s wife, Sunanda Pushkar, but cannot call him names.
“Bring down the rhetoric; You [Goswami and Republic] can show facts, but can’t call him [Tharoor] names,” the court said according to PTI.
Tharoor had filed a defamation suit against Goswami after the release of what his channel called an exposé connected to Pushkar’s death. Goswami’s new venture had aired what it claimed were audio tapes between one of the channel’s reporters and an aide of Tharoor. The tapes purportedly prove that Pushkar’s body had been moved from one room to another at the Leela Palace Hotel in New Delhi on January 17, 2014, the night she died.
Tharoor had denounced the news, claiming it was a publicity stunt to “create attention” for the news channel. Alongside, the airing of these tapes, Goswami referred to Tharoor as a “murderer” and tickers on his channel used similar language.
Gaurav Gupta, a lawyer appearing on behalf of Tharoor, told Scroll.in that the Congress leader did not have a problem with the investigation into Pushkar’s death, or even factual reporting by the media, but took issue with the references declaring him guilty while the case was still on.
“We don’t want to stifle the investigation, or any fair reporting by any section,” Gupta said. “We just have a problem with someone running a media trial and holding him guilty before even a chargesheet is there.”
Gupta said that the judge, during Monday’s hearing had observed that fair reportage is fine, but the channel cannot draw conclusions that Tharoor is guilty. Tharoor’s team had pleaded for an injunction on Goswami, restricting him from covering the matter until the defamation case is over.
“Arnab’s counsel said, ‘please don’t pass an injunction, I will advise him to temper down and scale down and not make defamatory remarks till the next date of hearing’,” Gupta said. “The court also said you justify and explain what has prompted him to make these statements”
Attempts to reach Goswami’s counsel were unsuccessful, but the channel itself issued statements through its Twitter account, claiming a “big win” for Republic TV.
The case has now been posted for the next hearing on August 16.
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