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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
West Asia war: Vessel carrying 20,000 tonnes of LPG reaches Gujarat crossing Strait of Hormuz
Kandla (Gujarat) (PTI): A vessel carrying 20,000 metric tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) arrived at Deendayal Port Authority in Kandla in Gujarat after crossing the Strait of Hormuz amid the West Asia crisis, officials said on Sunday.
The Marshall Islands-flagged MV SYMI started its journey from Qatar and docked at the port in Kandla around 11.30 pm on Saturday after crossing the Strait of Hormuz on May 13, they added.
Since early March, 13 India-flagged vessels, comprising 12 LPG tankers and one crude oil tanker, have crossed the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway close to the coast of Oman through which roughly one-fifth of the world's energy supplies pass.
It has been severely disrupted by the conflict in West Asia that started on February 28, with the US and Israel launching joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes. It has resulted in one of the worst energy crisis the world has seen in recent decades.
Incidentally, at a special meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECOSOC) on safeguarding energy and supply flows, India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Parvathaneni Harish said targeting commercial shipping, endangering civilian crew and impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is "unacceptable".
On May 13, an India-flagged commercial vessel came under attack off the coast of Oman.
Omani authorities rescued all 14 crew members of the vessel sailing from Somalia, but it was not immediately known who carried out the strike.
