By PTI
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Friday sought responses of the News Broadcasters and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA), a news channel, and a TV journalist on a plea by activist Shehla Rashid seeking an unambiguous and unequivocal apology to her to mitigate the damage caused to her reputation by airing alleged one-sided defamatory broadcast in which wild allegations were levelled against her by her estranged father.
Justice Yashwant Varma issued notices to NBDSA, News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA), Zee News, and its erstwhile anchor Sudhir Chaudhary on the petition by Rashid, a former JNU students’ union leader, and asked them to file replies within six months.
The high court listed the matter for further hearing on February 23, 2023.
Rashid approached the high court seeking modification in an order passed by NBDSA on March 31, 2022, on her complaint in which she had alleged that she was “vilified and slandered to the extent of alleging to have links with terrorists, solely on the basis of statements by her estranged father without taking or airing her version of the story”.
In the order, NBDSA had directed the news channel to take down links to a show about Rashid and observed that the broadcast had caused prejudice toward her.
The petitioner said the authority refused to direct the broadcaster to air an apology, a relief that NBDSA has given in other similarly placed cases.
“Such unreasoned refusal is wholly arbitrary and unsustainable in law and this writ ought to issue to remedy the violation of public duty by the respondents,” the plea said.
It sought modification in NBDSA’s order to the extent that the news channel and the journalist be directed to issue an unambiguous and unequivocal apology to the petitioner and to broadcast it during prime time to mitigate the damage and prejudice caused to her dignity and reputation.
Advocate S Prasanna, appearing for Rashid, said “in today’s situation when these kinds of allegations are made, it is important that there is a sense of responsibility of the media and people who make these allegations”.
The counsel for NBDSA submitted that the broadcaster has removed all the links from all platforms regarding the programme which was aired on November 30, 2020.
The plea said the acts of the news channel and the journalist of airing the broadcast and following it up with “additional biased and malicious coverage insinuating the involvement of the petitioner in terror funding, calls for an intervention by this court to provide relief to the petitioner whose reputation and the image was damaged with impunity by the respondents in violation of her fundamental right to live with dignity.”
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court Friday sought responses of the News Broadcasters and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA), a news channel, and a TV journalist on a plea by activist Shehla Rashid seeking an unambiguous and unequivocal apology to her to mitigate the damage caused to her reputation by airing alleged one-sided defamatory broadcast in which wild allegations were levelled against her by her estranged father.
Justice Yashwant Varma issued notices to NBDSA, News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA), Zee News, and its erstwhile anchor Sudhir Chaudhary on the petition by Rashid, a former JNU students’ union leader, and asked them to file replies within six months.
The high court listed the matter for further hearing on February 23, 2023.
Rashid approached the high court seeking modification in an order passed by NBDSA on March 31, 2022, on her complaint in which she had alleged that she was “vilified and slandered to the extent of alleging to have links with terrorists, solely on the basis of statements by her estranged father without taking or airing her version of the story”.
In the order, NBDSA had directed the news channel to take down links to a show about Rashid and observed that the broadcast had caused prejudice toward her.
The petitioner said the authority refused to direct the broadcaster to air an apology, a relief that NBDSA has given in other similarly placed cases.
“Such unreasoned refusal is wholly arbitrary and unsustainable in law and this writ ought to issue to remedy the violation of public duty by the respondents,” the plea said.
It sought modification in NBDSA’s order to the extent that the news channel and the journalist be directed to issue an unambiguous and unequivocal apology to the petitioner and to broadcast it during prime time to mitigate the damage and prejudice caused to her dignity and reputation.
Advocate S Prasanna, appearing for Rashid, said “in today’s situation when these kinds of allegations are made, it is important that there is a sense of responsibility of the media and people who make these allegations”.
The counsel for NBDSA submitted that the broadcaster has removed all the links from all platforms regarding the programme which was aired on November 30, 2020.
The plea said the acts of the news channel and the journalist of airing the broadcast and following it up with “additional biased and malicious coverage insinuating the involvement of the petitioner in terror funding, calls for an intervention by this court to provide relief to the petitioner whose reputation and the image was damaged with impunity by the respondents in violation of her fundamental right to live with dignity.”
