The Delhi High Court Justice Prathiba M Singh recused herself from hearing a petition which was filed by the former JNU Student Union leader Shehla Rashid asking for apology from Zee News journalist Sudhir Chaudhary for airing a news programme against her.
A notice was earlier issued by the another bench of the High Court which issued notice to Sudhir Chaudhary from Zee News, along with the News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDA) on the plea.
The Counsel for Zee mentioned the matter today before Justice Singh, asking for more time to file a reply.
The judge said that she cannot hear the case and that the same would be listed before another bench.
Rashid had gone to the Delhi High Court in relation to an order that was passed by News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) in April 2022.
As per the order, the NBDSA had asked Zee News for putting down links of a show about Rashid as it lacked on objectivity, impartiality was only one side of the story.
On November 30, 2020, the channel interviewed Rashid’s father and allegedly made allegations against her.
Rashid then wrote to the NBDSA arguing that the programme had insinuated that she is involved in “anti-national activities” and was “funding terror”.
Taking the note of the above, the NBDSA ordered Zee for taking down the show, however Rashid did not appreciate that the association had not directed the channel for issuing an apology to her.
Rashid, therefore, moved the High Court seeking modification of the NBDSA order, so that Zee and Chaudhary may be directed to issue an unambiguous and unequivocal apology to her.
Rashid has called for the apology to be broadcast during prime-time to mitigate the damage and prejudice caused to her dignity and reputation.
As per the plea submitted by Rashid the videos of the broadcast were viewed by several people and were received by more than 3,800 reactions, along with being shared by more than 500 people.
She clearly said that just taking down the video, does not ensure that its impact will minimized as the impact has already been made.
She added that it is difficult to restore the dignity and reputation of her which was damaged by the broadcast.