It is suing season in Indian politics. The war of words between political leaders has crossed all boundaries of parliamentary conduct, leading to a large number of political bigwigs filing defamation cases against one other under Section 499of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) “to authoritatively vindicate their stand”. BJP chief Nitin Gadkari is suing Digvijay Singh, who is being sued by civil society activists, the Bhushans; External Affairs Minister Salman Khursheed has threatened to sue IAC leader Arvind Kejriwal.
The media seems to be at the butt end of the defamation putsch, with Khursheed and Naveen Jindal both suing two television channels for defamation. Meanwhile, the Congress party has threatened to sue the irascible West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for ‘mimicking the PM.’ The defamation bug has also bitten the Gandhi parivar; Rahul Gandhi has promised defamatory retribution on Subramaniam Swamy while the Congress dared Swamy to sue Rahul. Meanwhile, Finance minister P Chidambaram’s son, Karti is suing Swamy.
On October 1, Nitin Gadkari moved a Delhi court seeking the criminal prosecution of the Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for having lowered his public image. He is exploring legal routes to counter allegations of wrongdoing and dubious funding in companies controlled by him. On September 3, Singh had accused Gadkari of maintaining close business relations with Rajya Sabha MP, Ajay Sancheti who has allegedly pocketed `500 crore in coal block allocations. “It was widely reported in the media, and tarnished the BJP chief’s image in the eyes of public,” says senior advocate Pinky Anand, who is representing Gadkari in the case.
The BJP chief is also exploring the possibility of suing the Arvind Kejriwal-led India Against Corruption for accusing him of being hand-in-glove with NCP leader Ajit Pawar in the irrigation scam. “We are actively exploring filing civil and criminal cases against some media houses for defaming him by playing into the hands of the Congress,” says Anand.
Gadkari was accused of corruption leading to farmer suicides in Vidarbha. Arvind Kejriwal is at the receiving end of many defamation cases; Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit has sent a legal notice through her political secretary Pawan Khera on October 22 against the crusader.
Slapping a legal notice for civil and criminal defamation, Khera accused the activist-turned politician of using derogatory and slanderous language against the CM, besides sullying the government’s public image.Digvijay Singh is no stranger to defamation cases. Gadkari is suing Digvijay for his remarks on being associated with Coalgate as “completely concocted, defamatory, scandalous and un-parliamentary.” In April last year, Bhushans—aggrieved by charges made by the Congress leader accusing them for evading stamp duty of `1.33 crore while purchasing a house in Allahabad—sued him. The latest defamation case that got a much public attention was filed by the external affairs minister Salman Khursheed—through his wife Louise—against a media group for airing a ‘defamatory’ programme, alleging financial irregularities in the Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust, run by the couple. The case filed by Louise Khursheed on October 12 before the Delhi high court has sought damages of Rs 1 crore, after the Khursheeds were caught in a maelstrom of allegations and counter-allegations, spearheaded by the IAC regarding the utilization of funds received by the Trust. They are suing the IAC as well. Khursheed plans to approach courts outside Delhi.
A trusted aide of minister revealed, “Another defamation case is also being filed to seek damages for tarnishing the image of the Trust. It shall be filed in Bombay High Court where a damage of Rs 200 crores is being sought. A similar suit will also be filed in an appropriate court in London soon, since the channels that aired the allegations are seen in UK too,” the official added. Another politician versus media tussle is between Congress MP Naveen Jindal and a news channel. As the chairman of Jindal Steel, the businessman cum politician has sued a Hindi channel for demanding Rs 100 crore worth of advertisements in exchange for dropping negative stories against him. The channel refutes the allegations. Notwithstanding their defence, the MP filed a Rs 200 crore defamation suit in the Bombay high court seeking damages for tarnishing the group’s image. A battery of acclaimed corporate lawyers represented Jindal before the Bombay high court arguing that the media group ran stories based on erroneous facts — despite him providing them with the right documents —putting at stake the company’s image. The channel issued a Rs 150 crore defamation notice to Jindal and his group.
Rahul Gandhi is also on the defamation trail against JP leader Subramaniam Swamy. Swamy leveled charges against him and the Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the acquisition of a company that publishes The National Herald newspaper. Rahul threatened to pursue “all legal actions” against Swamy, dubbing his allegations as “utterly false, entirely baseless and defamatory”. However the party—has now dared the Janata Party chief to sue Sonia and Rahul. “If Swamy has the guts, he should sue Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi,” party spokesperson P C Chacko said on Saturday, continuing to maintain, “All options are open to us.” Swamy has been at the end of many defamation threats. In April 2012, finance minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti—through the Chennai-based company Advantage Strategic Consulting Private (ASCP) Ltd decided to sue him; he had accused them of making investments in Aircel, which was being investigated by the CBI in the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Swamy had publicly alleged that in 2006, Karti “controlled” ASCP, which had conducted financial transactions with Aircel Televenture in order to get a GSM licence. The company’s lawyers were asked to taken appropriate legal action “immediately” against Swamy.
Manish Tewari, lawyer and the minister in charge of I&B Ministry told the The Sunday Standard that, “If you believe that Freedom of Speech and Right to Expression guaranteed under Constitution can extend to the right to offend anybody, then the person who has been offended has to have a legal remedy. That is where defamation cases serve their purpose.” The provision to seek legal remedy for defamation was carved out as an exception to the citizen’s right to freedom of speech, and attracts criminal prosecution of up to two years and or a fine. Ironically, Anna Hazare had sued Tewary for making allegations of corruption against him.
-Sunday Standard