UP court orders case against ANI editor Smita Prakash over alleged false news attributed to EC
New Delhi: In a significant legal development, a court in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, has reportedly directed that a complaint case be filed against Smita Prakash, the editor of the news agency ANI, for allegedly publishing false reports that were incorrectly attributed to the Election Commission (EC).
The complaint, filed by former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Amitabh Thakur, accuses ANI of disseminating misleading information attributed to the Election Commission, which was not corroborated by any official statements on the poll body’s official website or social media channels, as reported by Live Law.
According to Thakur, this amounted to the agency "relaying/issuing false news in the name of the Commission without any official back up of any kind".
The complainant has been directed to appear before the court on September 26 to record his statement.
In his complaint, Thakur referred to several instances in August, including the new agency’s post on X that quoted the poll body in response to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s claims of vote theft.
Thakur said that ANI published a post at 3:08 p.m. on August 7 with a purported response from the Election Commission objecting to Gandhi’s allegations, the legal news outlet reported.
However, the Election Commission later issued its official statement, first in Hindi at 5:59 p.m. and in English at 7:55 p.m., directly from its verified handle on X. The EC called Gandhi's claims “misleading, baseless, and threatening.”
“ANI has been seen relaying…false news in the name of [the Election Commission] without any official back up of any kind,” Live Law quoted Thakur as saying. “The issue of leakage of news from ANI presents another aspect related with the functioning of ANI. It raises possibilities of illegal infiltration of ANI in the [Election Commission] system, to the extent of illegally procuring and then leaking insider information.”
He argued that this action could constitute a violation of multiple provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, specifically those related to cheating and causing wrongful loss.
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
