'Never named party, Chandrasekhar': Court junks defamation case against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor
New Delhi, Feb 4 (PTI): A Delhi court on Tuesday dismissed a criminal complaint filed by BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar against Congress MP Shashi Tharoor accusing him of defamation.
Additional chief judicial magistrate Paras Dalal refused to summon Tharoor saying "not once did Tharoor in any of the three interviews/news bytes published" made a reference to the BJP, NDA or Chandrashekhar.
"The proposed accused (Tharoor) cannot been seen to impute that Chandrashekhar has bribed any voter. The proposed accused has not even mentioned that his opposition candidate had bribed the voters... Proposed accused in further interviews/news byte even clarifies that chasing such allegations would be futile as none would come forward to accept that they received any money or were promised as such. Proposed accused still in any of the interviews never named the complainant or his party to be bribing for votes," said the verdict.
Chandrasekhar alleged Tharoor defamed him by making false and derogatory statements on national television as he claimed the BJP leader bribed voters in the Thiruvananthapuram constituency during 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The court, however, said the complainant failed to show any imputation made against him by the Congress leader in any of the three interviews.
The court said if each and every speech and expression was viewed as defamation, then the freedom of speech and expression would be reduced to "nought".
"This court.. finds that there is no imputation which violates the requirement of law so as to initiate trial for criminal defamation against the proposed accused," the order said.
The judge went on, "There is no prima facie evidence that the proposed accused made any imputation against the complainant. The evidence produced shows that proposed accused never made or intended to make an imputation directly upon the complainant."
In a related development, the Delhi High Court on February 3 summoned Tharoor in a related civil defamation suit where Chandrasekhar sought Rs 10 crore in damages for loss of reputation. Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav posted the matter on April 28.
The criminal defamation complaint carries a maximum of a two-year jail term upon conviction.
The judge said the only imputation Tharoor made was when he reportedly said, "It's natural for the BJP to spend two to three times more than us."
But the court said the statement was made in context of the whole country.
"The fact that the news channel questioned the proposed accused shows that it was already the talk of the town and cities. The news channel kept seeking answers from the proposed, who maintained that even he had heard about the same and even clarified that there was no evidence," said the judge.
The two interviews when read in totality showed in all fairness Tharoor brushed the news as without proof and it seemed he left it to the people of the constituency to make fair judgment of talks, noted the judgment.
Tharoor, said the court, imputing the BJP was spending two to three times more than them was neither attributable to the complainant nor was it defamatory.
"It is noteworthy to see how interviews, words, etc., can be manipulated to mean differently with some outside context or interpretation attributed to such words... a bit and piece of any answer when presented to sensationalise with some random context by third person can present a complete different picture... A news channel can easily fall to scheme of sentimentalisation," the court said.
In today's period with diminishing attention span, the news presented for consumption requires sensationalising and eye catching headlines, it added.
Tharoor, said Chandrasekhar, made the allegations with the intent to lower his reputation and to impact the result of the last general elections while knowing fully well that the statements were false.
The interviews were published by various news channels and on social media platforms at the behest of the proposed accused and resulted in the loss of reputation of the complainant in the society, which ultimately resulted in the complainant losing the Lok Sabha Elections, 2024, alleged his complaint.
The court on September 21, 2024 took cognisance of the complaint.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
