ANI sues Wikipedia for ‘defamatory description’, seeks 2 crore in damages
New Delhi: Asian News International (ANI) has filed a law suit in Delhi High Court against Wikipedia for alleged defamatory content about the news agency. The agency has sought interim relief in the matter and Rupees two crores in damages, Deccan Herald reported on Tuesday July 9.
ANI’s plea has found fault with the description of the news agency in Wikipedia, which says that it “has been criticized for having served as a propaganda tool of the incumbent central government, distributing materials from a vast network of fake news websites and misreporting events”. The news agency wants the content be removed from the open encyclopedia’s page.
Advocate Sidhant Kumar, representing ANI, accused the Wikimedia Foundation of publishing false content about the news agency with an intention to harm its reputation and goodwill. Arguing that a platform for public utility cannot behave as a private sector, Kumar accused the Foundation of preventing any edits to the page on ANI by the news agency. Only Wikipedia’s own editors are allowed to make changes to the page now, he said.
ANI has strongly objected to the encyclopedia’s contents, based on articles published in other news outlets, which alleged that the news agency practiced “an aggressive model of journalism focused at maximum revenue output, where journalists were easily dispensable with. Multiple employees have accused ANI of not having any human resource management system and ill-treating their ex-employees”.
The Plea also objected to a detail in the Wikipedia page about the news agency falsely reporting that a Muslim man named Abdul Hilim, a member of an armed rebel group, was arrested by police for raping a Kuki woman during 2023 Manipur violence. It also accused Wikimedia Foundation of actively participating in removing the edits to the page to reverse the content.
Terming it “a pure case of defamation”, Justice Navin Chawla remarked that Wikipedia was entitled to its opinions and it would have to explain the matter before the court. A summons has been issued to Wikipedia demanding an explanation regarding the defamation suit. The next hearing of the case is scheduled for August 20.
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Class 8 student stabs, injures classmate outside Gujarat school
Balasinor (Guj), Aug 22 (PTI): A Class 8 student stabbed and injured his classmate over a dispute outside a school in Gujarat's Mahisagar district, police said on Friday.
The incident has come days after a Class 10 student was killed in a similar attack outside a private school in Ahmedabad.
A Class 8 student attacked his classmate using a sharp object after school hours on Thursday near the gate of a government-run primary school in Balasinor town, an official said.
Superintendent of Police Jaydeepsinh Jadeja said, "Based on a complaint given by the victim's father, we have registered an FIR against the accused juvenile. The victim is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital, and his condition is stable."
Balasinor police on Friday registered a case against the accused teen under sections 115 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 118 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or harmful means) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, he said.
According to the injured boy's father, his son was attacked over a trivial issue.
"My son's classmate got angry over some minor issue and stabbed him with a small knife. My son sustained stab wounds on his back, abdomen, and near his shoulder," the victim's father said.
On Tuesday, a boy studying in Class 10 was stabbed to death, allegedly by a fellow student, near the main gate of the Seventh Day Adventist School located in the Khokhra area of Ahmedabad.
The victim died during treatment later that night.
