The High Court of Delhi on Wednesday refused to grant an injunction against leading Hindi daily Punjab Kesari on a defamation suit filed by former cricketer and BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Gautam Gambhir, which alleged that the newspaper misused its journalistic freedom by publishing numerous malicious and libellous articles systematically targeting the former cricketer.
The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh observed that even though some of the words used by the newspaper in its reporting on Gambhir were improper, a public person must be thick-skinned. With this social media and all, even judges have to be thick skinned, added the High Court.
It also refused to pass directions for taking down one of the news reports, which allegedly used words like achhoot (untouchable) for the cricketer-turned-politician.
The High Court, however, issued notice on the defamation suit and Gambhir’s plea for interim relief, noting that the stories highlighted by Gambhir did give an impression that the reporter of the newspaper was after him and some of the words or sentences used may not be proper for the paper.
The former cricketer had sued the newspaper, its editor Aditya Chopra as well as correspondents Amit Kumar and Imran Khan, alleging that they misused their journalistic freedom by publishing numerous malicious and libellous articles systematically targeting him.
Representing Gambhir, Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai argued that the articles cited by the former cricketer were beyond the purview of fair and objective reporting.
He alleged that the two reporters, maybe at the behest of someone else, were targeting Gambhir. He said he ignored them on multiple occasions, but this has been like a campaign. They portrayed him as someone who was not interested in serving the people of his constituency and was only busy with the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The petition alleged that one of the articles said that Gambhir practised untouchability.
The High Court then observed that Gambhir was a public servant, an elected person, who need not be so sensitive. The Single-Judge Bench refused to pass any blanket order on the grounds that the first article was not defamatory.
Appearing for the newspaper and its editor, Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao contended that the suit was published by a leading English website, even before it was heard by the court. He said several other publications have carried stories on Gambhir on similar lines, but he chose only Punjab Kesari to sue.