New Delhi: The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court has held that a factual news report based on the contents of the FIR is not a defamatory and legal action against the reporter in the event of an attempt to suppress the journalist’s voice and compel him to withdraw his news. try to do.
According to the report of Live Law, Justice Vinay Joshi quashed the FIR against Lokmat Media Pvt Ltd chief Vijay Darda and editor Rajendra Darda. Both were accused of defamation under Section 500 of the IPC over a report published in 2016.
The court said that if journalists are prevented from reporting on the FIR, then in that case they will not be able to report on that matter till the final decision in the matter, which will mean that the public will be deprived of their right to know about the incidents. Will happen.
The bench said, “It is the responsibility of the editor to publish the correct facts, nothing more. The publisher is not expected to verify the veracity of the FIR and investigate the matter before the news is published.
The court further said, “The filing of a defamation complaint on such reports is nothing more than to silence the reporters, suppress their voices, and make them attempt to forcibly withdraw the news against the accused and the person allegedly defamed in the case.” ‘
Regarding the matter, the court said, ‘There is no doubt that the news published without truth on the basis of a rumor or on the basis of heard information is fatal to the journalist. Here it is not that FIR has not been registered or that misleading news has been published. ,
Please inform that the complainant Ravindra Gupta had alleged that an article published against him in Lokmat was false and was published by the newspaper without any confirmation. Gupta claimed that he was not at the crime scene when the alleged crime took place and his name was later dropped from the charge sheet.
