The Delhi High Court (HC) on Tuesday set aside the summons issued to TV journalist Arnab Goswami in a criminal defamation complaint filed by an advocate for allegedly making defamatory remarks on a news channel in 2016. Justice Neena Bansal Krishna also quashed the criminal complaint against Goswami and two former officials of the TV channel — Shrijeet Ramakant Mishra and Samir Jain.
The court passed the order on three separate petitions challenging the trial court’s order summoning them in the defamation complaint in which advocate Vikram Singh Chauhan had claimed that he was deliberately and willfully defamed by Goswami and others on a TV channel. The alleged remarks were made during the broadcast of a programme relating to the violence that took place at the Patiala House court, following the 2016 Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) incident, where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised. In his complaint, the advocate had claimed that during the programme on February 19, 2016, Goswami had levelled “baseless and humiliating” allegations against him. On February 15, 2016, when accused Kanhaiya Kumar was brought before the Patiala House Court for his remand, a mob which included several lawyers, allegedly beat up Kumar and several journalists. The situation continued on February 17, 2016, when the concerned magistrate was forced to conduct the proceedings in his chamber due to security concerns. The incident, caught on camera, allegedly showed Chauhan being part of the mob.
