Upholding a Magistrate Court’s order, the Delhi High Court (HC) on Tuesday dismissed two petitions filed by India Today seeking discharge in the criminal defamation proceedings instituted by BJP leader Ramesh Bidhuri and his nephew Rajpal Poswal over a 2011 news report. In 2011, Aaj Tak aired a news report about a gang rape and abduction case involving one Sunny. The accused was described as Poswal’s brother-in-law. Bidhuri was then an MLA from Tughlakabad.
Since the report linked the accused to them, both Bidhuri and Poswal filed separate complaint cases. Bidhuri alleged that the news report falsely connected him with the accused and thereby, harmed his reputation by implying that political influence was being used to protect the accused. A Magistrate in September 2014 issued summons to the TV channel. TV Today, the parent company of Aaj Tak, later sought discharge in the cases, arguing that it was reporting facts in good faith and in public interest. However, a Magistrate dismissed the discharge applications in 2018, holding that he lacked the power to discharge accused in a summons triable case. Justice Ravinder Dudeja upheld the trial court’s decision, ruling that once the Magistrate has taken cognizance and issued summons upon satisfaction that a prima facie case exists, he is left with no power to recall or annul his earlier order by entertaining a discharge application.
