Republic TV has a right to report on Sunanda murder case: Delhi HC to Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor seems to have received a setback in his first attempt to get Republic TV to stop reporting on the death of his wife, Sunanda Pushkar. The Delhi High Court, where the case was filed, observed that the channel had the right to report on the event. Going further, the court also questioned the Delhi police, noting the delay in filing the charge sheet.

As per a PTI update, the court also asked Republic TV to tone down its rhetoric, stating that while the channel had the right to report the facts, Arnab did not have the right to call Tharoor names. 

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, on Friday, had filed a civil defamation suit against Arnab Goswami and his newly-launched news channel Republic TV in the Delhi High Court. He claimed damages and compensation of Rs 2 crore for allegedly making defamatory remarks against him while airing news relating to the death of Sunanda Pushkar

The Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram also sought a direction from the high court to restrain the TV channel from broadcasting any show relating to the death of his wife until the investigation was completed by the Delhi Police

In his lawsuit, Tharoor made Goswami and Arg Outlier Media Asianet News Private Limited, the company which owns Republic TV, as parties. Specifically, the case was against the broadcasting of news items from May 8 to 13 when the TV channel claimed to air an expose connected to the death of his wife.

The lawsuit filed through advocates Muhammad Ali Khan and Gaurav Gupta denounced the news, claiming that the recordings were released in a sensational manner so as to appease the viewers and created a non-existing controversy by maligning his public life and public image

"It is not out of place to say that defendants (Goswami and TV channel) broadcast news reports and alleged expose' which were intended to lead the viewers to believe that the deceased was murdered either by the plaintiff (Tharoor) or at the instance of the plaintiff. Such a broadcast clearly has the potential of adversely impacting the ongoing investigation into the death of the deceased," the plea said while seeking to restrain from "maligning and defaming him in any manner" by reporting or broadcasting the news relating to the death of Pushkar

Responding to the suit, Goswami alleged Tharoor wants to stop his channel from finding out the truth in the Sunanda Pushkar case. "My response is that it is a matter of great concern that Tharoor wants to block a TV channel from finding out the truth about who killed his wife," he told reporters in Mumbai.

"In fact, he should be more concerned about finding the truth. And it is he who should be asking questions about why the investigations have been so shoddy, rather than block the channels trying to finding out the truth," he said.

Sunanda was found dead in a suite at a five-star hotel in South Delhi on the night of January 17, 2014.

• Republic TV
• Sunanda Tharoor