press trust of india
New Delhi, August 4: The Delhi High Court Friday sought a response from journalist Arnab Goswami and his channel Republic TV on Congress MP Shashi Tharoor’s plea that the channel should refrain from “misreporting” his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death. The court asked the channel to respect Tharoor’s “right to silence”.
Tharoor had in his plea filed Thursday alleged that the channel was “defaming and maligning” him despite an assurance given in court by counsel for the channel May 29.
Salman Khurshid, who represented Tharoor, submitted that the court must direct Goswami and the channel to refrain from using the expression “murder of Sunanda Pushkar”, as it was yet to be established by a competent court that it was a “murder”. Khurshid stated that it was required to ensure the trial was not prejudiced.
Sandeep Sethi, counsel for Goswami and the channel, said in turn that the cannel has only placed actual evidence and the police report while broadcasting the news. “We have not called him a murderer in any of the news broadcasts on the channel (Republic channel),” Sethi said.
The judge, however, reminded the counsel that he had assured that the channel will not name anyone in its reports and that it “will have to abide by that”.
Advocate Sethi replied that his client “stands by” what he had assured the court. The court has fixed the matter for further hearing August 16.
The court was hearing an application moved by Tharoor in his pending Rs2 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 at a five-star hotel in south Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014. The matter is under investigation.
