HC questions Arnab for running parallel investigation in Sunanda Pushkar death case
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Thursday questioned Arnab Goswami for running a parallel investigation and trial in the Congress leader Shashi Tharoor's wife Sunanda Pushkar's death case and directed the journalist to be bound by his undertaking on showing restraint and bringing down the rhetoric while covering the matter.
Justice Mukta Gupta said the court was not saying that anyone will gag the media but at the same time, sanctity of investigation must be maintained.
Please show restraint. Once the police investigation is going on in the criminal case, there cannot be a parallel investigation by the media, the judge said and remarked that people must take a course in criminal trial and then get into journalism.
The high court referred to December 1, 2017 order in which it was stated that Press cannot convict anyone' or insinuate that he/she is guilty or make any other unsubstantiated claims. Press has to exercise care and caution while reporting about matters under investigation or pending trial.
It has been noted in the 2017 order that the counsel for the journalist and channel has assured the court that in future they would exercise restraint as well as bring down the rhetoric'.
On Thursday, the judge said, Defendants (Goswami and his channel) are thus directed to be bound by the statement made on their behalf by their counsel till the next date of hearing.
On the channel's claim that they have evidence with them, the judge questioned them saying were you at the spot? Are you an eye witness? There is some sanctity attached to the investigation.
To this, advocate Malvika Trivedi, representing Goswami, said there was evidence from AIIMS, based on which certain broadcast was aired.
The judge said it was for a court of law to decide what was evidence in a criminal trial and there are statements from here and there which are not evidence.
Can the media sit in appeal against the charge sheet filed by an investigating agency?, the judge asked.
It is not a reflection on the Plaintiff (Tharoor) but the investigating agency. Can there be a parallel investigation or trial?.. Would you not like the courts to take their own course? the judge said.
The high court was hearing an application by Congress MP Tharoor seeking interim injunction against Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV, from making defamatory remarks against the leader.
Tharoor's grievance relates to broadcast of the programmes naming him on the TV channel in July and August and in the telecast, the journalist has claimed that they have investigated Sunanda Pushkar case better than the police and that he still has no doubt that Pushkar was murdered.
Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Vikas Pahwa, representing Tharoor, said charge sheet has been filed by the police in the case and he has been summoned for the alleged offence of abetment to suicide then how can the journalist abuse him and allege that there was a murder.
The application, filed through advocates Gaurav Gupta and Muhammad A Khan, sought that the journalist should be directed to report only on matters which are factually correct or established.
The high court noted that the Delhi Police has filed a charge sheet in the trial court which has taken cognisance of it and he has been summoned under Sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 498A (cruelty to married woman) IPC in the light of the investigation done by the agency.
The high court sought response of the journalist on Tharoor's application and listed the matter for further hearing on November 20.
In the December 1, 2017 order, the high court had said Goswami and his channel have the right to air their stories and the same cannot be curbed, but it has to be tempered and balanced.
The court's 2017 order had come on three different applications filed by Tharoor in his Rs two crore defamation suit against Goswami and the channel for allegedly making defamatory remarks against him while airing news relating to the mysterious death of his wife.
Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a five-star hotel in south Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014 under mysterious circumstances. Tharoor has alleged that they continued to engage in defaming and maligning him despite an assurance given by their counsel in the court on May 29, 2017.
The court had on May 29, 2017 said the journalist and his news channel could put out stories stating the facts related to the investigation of Pushkar's death but could not call the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram a criminal.
The Congress leader has sought a direction to them that they should not mention the expression murder of Sunanda Pushkar anywhere, since it is yet to established by a competent court whether her death was a murder.
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Confident we are going to win Kerala: Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Thursday expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala, saying the Congress-led alliance will win more than 75 seats out of the total 140 in the state.
Tharoor, who hails from Kerala, said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls, most of which predicted a victory for the UDF that has been out of power for 10 years in the state.
"We have been on the ground. I have campaigned in 59 constituencies across 12 districts out of 14. I was very confident we are going to win.
"Everything that I have picked up from not just my party colleagues and workers but also from other observers, media and others have always convinced me that we were going to score a comfortable win of above 75 seats. And all the (exit) polls have confirmed the same thing," he told reporters here.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he was not surprised to see the results of the exit polls but in general he was not a big fan of exit polls in India.
"Because ours is not purely a homogenous society. We have to take into account gender issue, caste issue, class issue, regional disparities. You never get a convincingly large enough sample to give an accurate poll and now there is the additional complication that we have heard about in West Bengal this year that many people are unwilling to answer the questions of the pollsters," he said.
The Congress leader said normally, it used to be below 10 per cent that people said that they would not answer.
"Even if you are a reputable exit pollster, in Bengal, one polling company has said 60 per cent of people refused to answer. So, what is the worth of a poll where 60 per cent of your respondents have not answered," he said.
Several exit polls on Wednesday predicted a comeback by the Congress-led UDF in Kerala after 10 years, dethroning the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Polling for the 140-member Kerala assembly was held on April 9. Results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Puducherry, besides Kerala, will be announced on May 4.
