Observing that there are sufficient grounds to summon the accused, a Delhi court has directed industrialist and former Congress MP Naveen Jindal to appear in the court on December 18 in connection with criminal defamation cases filed against him by Zee News, its present Editor and former Editor of Zee Business.
Three associates of Jindal, who were also present at a press conference on October 25, 2012 at the National Sports Club of India, have also been summoned in the two cases, filed by Sudhir Chaudhary, Editor, Zee News and Sameer Ahluwalia, former Editor of Zee Business.
“After perusal of records, there are sufficient grounds for proceeding against the accused persons, i.e Naveen Jindal, Anand Goyal, Vikrant Gujral and accused Ravi Uppal. Hence, I take cognisance of the offence against the aforesaid accused persons for the offence of defamation,” Metropolitan Magistrate Ashok Kumar said in his order dated July 11.
The accused have been summoned in all the three cases which have been filed. The complaints were filed on the ground that Jindal had defamed renowned editors by holding a press conference on October 25, 2012 at the National Sports Club of India and lodging FIR against them. The cases are being heard together.
In the press conference, Jindal had accused Chaudhary of reporting “false” stories of undue favours being doled out to his company in the coal block allocations thereby benefiting the politician professionally and financially.
Following this, defamation cases was filed against Jindal alleging that he had tried to paint Zee News as a “fraudulent” news channel and thereby attempting to muzzle the media.
“The real truth is that the accused (Jindal) has tried to anoint Zee News Limited and the complainant as a fraudulent news channel organisation whose employees have no credibility and thus tried to muzzle the mouth of the media,” advocate Vijay Agarwal said in the court.
The complaint also said that the reputation of the complainants had come under attack because of the false statements made at the press conference.
