Wednesday, May 23, 2012 1:41 PM IST

Defamation suit: No SC relief for Times Now

Last Updated : 15 Nov 2011

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Monday declined to interfere with a Bombay High Court order directing Times Global Broadcasting Co. to deposit Rs.20 crore with the high court registrar along with a Rs.80 crore bank guarantee in a Rs.100 crore defamation suit filed by a retired apex court judge.

The high court set the deposit of money as a pre-condition for taking up the company's appeal challenging the award of Rs.100 crore damages to former apex court judge P.B. Sawant by a Pune court.

The apex court bench of Justice G.S. Singhvi and Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya said "we are not inclined to stay the high court order".

Times Global Broadcasting was asked to pay damages to Justice Sawant for wrongly carrying his image on the Times Now news channel while telecasting a story on the Ghaziabad district court provident fund scam Sep 10, 2008 in which the name of a Calcutta High Court judge had allegedly figured.

The Pune trial court held Time Now guilty of wrongly showing the picture of Justice Sawant and directed it to pay him Rs.100 crore damages.

The Bombay High court directed the Times Now to deposit Rs.20 crore with the high court registrar and furnish bank surety of Rs.80 crore.

Declining to interfere with the high court order, the court said that the order was conditional.

Senior counsel Harish Salve, who appeared for the Times Global Broadcasting Co., sought a stay on the high court order stating that serious questions were arising from it.

Salve questioned how the damages of Rs.100 crore were quantified.

Topics:

Defamation suit,

Times Now,

Justice Sawant

Comments

Never heard of indian courts awarding/considering such a high compensation if the affected person was an ordinary citizen, even in cases where the mistakes were of much higher degree and consequences? But then in a democracy, this is how people in power behave. They have one rule for themselves and another for others. The same applies to media as well, they also fail in carrying out their duties diligently and instead try to appease their bosses or bosses's bosses. No one truly stands for the comman man's problem.

By Adarsh Agrawal
11/20/2011 2:56:00 PM

Media had it coming for long. As the fourth estate, they completely failed to keep a tab on the 'Honourable Judiciary's failures . e.g. All these years, they didn't point out the dereliction of duty by Indian courts in matters pertinent to justice for the victims of 1984 riots. And now its them who have been picked up by the judiciary for an inadvertent mistake !

By kulmohan
11/15/2011 6:43:00 PM

We need freedom of press but not to be too sensational especially on sensitive geo political matters of great concen for our nation. It is time Express should start news visual electronic channel.

By K.S.Nagarajan.
11/15/2011 3:09:00 PM

I am of the considered opinion that, at present, it will be economical to say nothing.

By Gopal Raj
11/15/2011 7:40:00 AM

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