ITV

Tag: Rashmi Singh

  • Fake sting operation victim withdraws defamation case against Live India

    Fake sting operation victim withdraws defamation case against Live India

    MUMBAI : Uma Khurana, victim of a fake sting operation, has withdrwan her defamation complaint against Hindi news channel Live India and its CEO Sudhir Chaudhary after settling the matter with them.

    In an application before a court in Delhi, Khurana said that she has settled the issue “amicably” with regard to the sting operation with Live India TV Channel and its CEO Sudhir Chaudhary and did not want to pursue the matter.

    Khurana, a teacher in Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, had filed in November last year a complaint through her counsel Amit Kumar, alleging that the TV Channel’s reporter had conducted a fake sting operation, which was approved for telecast by Chaudhary, that damaged her reputation.

    “Since the matter has been settled/compromised between me and Live India TV Channel and Chaudhary, I do not want to proceed this case against other accused TV reporter Prakash Singh also. I am withdrawing this complaint against all accused,” she submitted in a statement before the court.

    Taking her application into consideration, Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Jindal said: “I am of the view that the matter has been settled.”

    Khurana had not only been manhandled by the protesting mob following the telecast of the fake sting operation on 30 August last year, but was also terminated from her service by the Delhi Government.

    The court, however, had let off her in the criminal case, after the police chargesheet said that there was no “incriminating” evidence against her.

    The police, however, had claimed that there was sufficient evidence to nail the three accused — Prakash Singh, Rashmi Singh and Virender Arora — in the criminal case under Section 120 (criminal conspiracy), 193 (punishment for false evidence) and 196 (using false evidence) and 471 (using forged document as genuine) of the IPC.

    According to the chargesheet, Arora was having a monetary dispute with Khurana, who had refused to part with the money.

    Arora allegedly hatched a conspiracy with Prakash to implicate the school teacher by carrying out a sting operation.

    On 30 August, the TV sting triggered a violent outrage amongst the local public outside Khurana’s school near Daryaganj in Delhi.

    However, Delhi Government had later reinstated Khurana after she was discharged by the court.

  • Teacher files defamation against channel for fake sting

    NEW DELHI: Even as a Delhi Metropolitan Court granted bail to Live India reporter Prakash Singh and co-accused Virender Arora, Delhi school teacher Uma Khurana who was made the victim of a fake sting two months earlier filed a criminal defamation case against the television channel.

    The sting operation aired on 30 August showed the teacher running an alleged prostitution and resulted in widespread violence in the Darya Ganj in central Delhi where the school where she was teaching is located.

    In her criminal defamation case before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Jindal against the channel, its CEO Sudhir Chaudhary and accused reporter Prakash Singh, the teacher has said she had been removed from service and subjected to different kinds of mental agony, strain, harassment, humiliation and earned a bad name in the eyes of the public and society.

    Earlier, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Alok Agarwal granted bail to the reporter and businessman Arora.

    Forty-one year old Khurana had been discharged by Aggarwal earlier this week and fixed 15 November for argument on charges against the other three accused — TV reporters Prakash Singh and Rashmi Singh, and Arora. The police have charged the trio for criminal conspiracy for using forged electronic record.

    A week after the telecast, it was discovered that the operation was a hoax and the girl ‘victim’ shown in the TV sting was, in fact, TV journalist Rashmi Singh. Khurana was granted bail on 11 September.

  • Govt. lifts ban on Live India channel for fake sting operations

    NEW DELHI: The month-long ban on the Live India Channel imposed on 20 September for telecast of a fake sting which led to a law and order problem and arrest of a Delhi school teacher, has been lifted with effect from 13 October.

    This follows the acceptance by the government of the plea by the channel that there was no deliberate mala fide intention and the reporter had misled them and unfortunately the sting operation telecast on 30 August took a different shape.

    The government has, therefore, decided to revoke the prohibition imposed on transmission/re-transmission of the Live India (Janmat) TV Channel on all platforms with effect from midnight tonight.

    The sting operation that involved teacher Uma Khurana was found to be ‘defamatory, deliberate, false and contained suggestive innuendos and half truths; incited violence and contained content against maintenance of law and order.’ It ‘criticized, maligned and slandered an individual in person and it denigrated children.’

    Broadcast Initiatives Limited, distributor and uplinking applicant for Live India (earlier named Janmat) TV, in their appeal of 21 September and 4 October submitted that that they had exercised all due diligence and care according to the prevailing industry practice and there was no deliberate attempt by the channel to defame anybody by telecasting the sting operation. But it subsequently emerged that the reporter had misled them. 

    The channel requested the Information and Broadcasting ministry to reconsider the prohibition of transmission of the channel for one month as it had put a question mark on its commercial viability. 

    The ministry said the channel had ‘assured that they are committed to effectively using journalism in the best interests of the nation and society by following the highest standards of journalism and that they would be observing and minutely complying with all the relevant provisions of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and the requisite license conditions’. 

    The ban has been imposed in terms of the Sub-Section (2) of Section 20 of the Act which is clear that ‘no person shall transmit or re-transmit through a cable service any programme unless such programme is in conformity with the prescribed programme code’.

    Section 20 (2) of the Act says the government may regulate or prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of any channel or programme ‘Where the Central Government thinks it necessary or expedient so to do in the interest of the (i) sovereignty or integrity of India; or (ii) security of India; or (iii) friendly relations of India with any foreign State; or (iv) public order, decency or morality.’

    The channel’s reporters Prakash Singh and Rashmi Singh are already in police custody. It is also learnt that some women’s organizations have filed a complaint asking the ministry to cancel the broadcasting licence of the channel. 

    Interestingly, the incident has come out at a time when there is growing confrontation between the ministry and news broadcasters on the need or relevance of an imposed Content Code. 

    The school teacher Uma Khurana has been granted bail in the fake sting which showed her using her own students for prostitution. Businessman Virendra Arora who wanted to recover some money reportedly owed to him by Uma is reported to have hatched the conspiracy using Prakash.

    Janmat was a predominantly “views channel” earlier till it re-launched itself in the form of Live India, a 24×7 news channel, on 3 August.

  • Fake sting: Live India banned for one month

    NEW DELHI: The Live India Channel which telecast the fake sting leading to a law and order problem and arrest of a Delhi school teacher, has now been banned for one month with immediate effect.

    The Information and Broadcasting Ministry today issued order for prohibiting the transmission/re-transmission of the satellite channel (which until early August was known as Janmat) on all platforms throughout the country.

    The ban has been imposed in terms of the Sub-Section (2) of Section 20 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995. The Act is clear that ‘no person shall transmit or re-transmit through a cable service any programme unless such programme is in conformity with the prescribed programme code’.

    Section 20 (2) of the Act says the government may regulate or prohibit the transmission or re-transmission of any channel or programme ‘Where the Central Government thinks it necessary or expedient so to do in the interest of the (i) sovereignty or integrity of India; or (ii) security of India; or (iii) friendly relations of India with any foreign State; or (iv) public order, decency or morality.

    Earlier, the Ministry had issued a showcause notice on 11 September asking the channel to respond within three days.

    The order issued today, effective till 20 October says: “It had come to the notice of the Central Government that some Cable Operators in the country through their Cable Television Networks had been transmitting/re-transmitting the satellite channel namely ‘Janmat’ (assumed name Live India), which telecast an admittedly doctored sting operation on Smt. Uma Khurana, teacher, Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Darya Ganj, Delhi.”

    The order further noted that the telecast of the sting operation was “defamatory, deliberate, false and contained suggestive innuendos and half-truths; incited violence and contained content against maintenance of law and order. It criticized, maligned and slandered an individual in person and it denigrated children and was irresponsibly aired by the channel without exercise of due diligence in preliminary verification of the facts of the case.”

    The channel’s reporters Prakash Singh and Rashmi Singh are already in police custody. It is also learnt that some women’s organizations have filed a complaint asking the Ministry to cancel the broadcasting licence of the channel.

    Interestingly, the incident has come out at a time when there is growing confrontation between the Ministry and news broadcasters on the need or relevance of an imposed Content Code.

    The school teacher Uma Khurana has been granted bail in the fake sting which showed her using her own students for prostitution. Businessman Virendra Arora who wanted to recover some money reportedly owed to him by Uma is reported to have hatched the conspiracy using Prakash.

    Live India is the new name of Janmat channel, promoted by Broadcast Initiatives Ltd of Markand Adhikari. Janmat was a predominantly “views channel” earlier till it re-launched itself in the form of Live India, a 24×7 news channel, on 3 August.