ITV

Tag: Sunanda Pushkar

  • Republic TV & Pushkar’s kin restrained, hearing on 21 Sept

    MUMBAI: The Delhi High Court has asked Republic TV and the kin of late Sunanda Pushkar not to indulge in “name calling” in connection with her death case but said there could be a possibility of some posturing from both sides.

    The court was hearing the Congress leader Shashi Tharoor’s plea seeking to restrain journalist-editor Arnab Goswami and his TV channel from alleged misreporting on his wife’s death, PTI reported. Pushkar was found dead in a south Delhi five-star hotel suite on the night of 17 January, 2014, in mysterious circumstances.

    Justice Manmohan made the above observation after lawyers accused each other of not being careful while tweeting about the case as well as about each other.

    The court has now told Tharoor’s lawyers to file their response to the affidavit filed by Goswami and the channel and listed the case for hearing on 21 September. Tharoor had filed Rs 20 million defamation suit against Goswami and his channel.

    While the media house was now careful in how it reported about the case, senior advocate Salman Khurshid, appearing for Tharoor, said some Republic TV reporters were not taking the same care while tweeting. Appearing for Republic TV, advocate Malvika Trivedi contended that Tharoor had also made endless tweets against it which, she said, were offensive.

    In response, Khurshid said that his client’s remarks about the media house were harsh and funny, but not defamatory and assured the court that such statements would not be made again. Khurshid said he does not want to gag the media. Investigation was their right, he said, but, he said, they had already held him guilty.

  • Arnab Goswami told to respect Tharoor’s right, Delhi HC hearing on 16 Aug

    NEW DELHI: Even as the Delhi High Court did not restrain Republic TV in its investigation into the death of Sunanda Pushkar, it asked the channel head Arnab Goswami to respect Shashi Tharoor’s right to silence on the issue. A spokesperson meanwhile said it was “another big victory for Republic TV” as Tharoor failed to ‘gag’ the channel.

    The court asked Goswami and his channel to file its reply on the Congress MP’s plea to refrain from “misreporting” his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death, and asked them to respect his “right to silence”.

    The court was hearing an application moved by Tharoor in his pending Rs-20 million defamation suit against Goswami and the channel for allegedly making defamatory remarks against him while airing news relating to the death of his wife. Tharoor alleged that they continued to engage in “defaming and maligning” him despite an assurance given in the court on 29 May by their counsel. The matter has now been fixed for 16 August 2017.

    Tharoor’s counsel Salman Khurshid submitted that the court must direct Goswami and the channel to not mention the expression “murder of Sunanda Pushkar”, as it is yet to be established by a competent court that her death was “murder”, to ensure the trial was not prejudiced.

    Senior advocate Sandeep Sethi, appearing for Goswami and the channel, said they have only placed the actual evidence and the police report while broadcasting the news. “We have not called him a murderer in any of the news broadcasts on the channel,” he said. The judge asked the counsel not to use names and said “they will have to abide by that.”

    Pushkar was found dead in a suite of a five-star hotel in south Delhi on the night of 17 January, 2014. The matter is under investigation. 

    Also Read:

    Shashi Tharoor files defamation case against Arnab Goswami’s Republic

    Ex-employees Arnab & Sridevi stole ‘material’, Bennett files police complaint

    Delhi HC notice to Arnab Goswami on ‘theft’ suit by Times group 

    Of Arnab’s Republic, nationalism, need for opinionated media & ‘outdated’ BBC

  • Delhi HC notice to Arnab Goswami on ‘theft’ suit by Times group

    NEW DELHI: Delhi High Court, which had earlier issued summons, has now issued a notice to Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami in a case filed against him by former employer Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL), owners of Times Now news channel. The complainant had alleged breach of employment contract and misusing intellectual property belonging to BCCL.

    Goswami and his colleague Prema Sridevi, who was also in Times Now, are accused of having played audio tapes during a story on the mysterious death of Congress Party member and MP Shashi Tharoor’s wife Sunanda Pushkar. Times Now claims the audio tapes were its property. This development has been reported by legal news portal Live Law.

    BCCL has alleged the Sunanda Pushkar tapes and those played out during a story done by Republic TV on its debut day on Lalu Prasad were ‘procured and accessed’ by Goswami and Sridevi while they were employed by Times Now.

    While the court observed that an employee has to maintain confidentiality and utmost fidelity towards his employer and they cannot breach contract, it said that since the Times Group hasn’t submitted anything on record to prove that the audio recordings used by Goswami were parts of its database, it has only issued a short notice.

    Earlier, the court had issued summons to Goswami, Sridevi and the ARG Outlier Media Private Limited, the company that owns Republic TV, in the matter.

    ALSO READ:

    IPR case: HC issues summons to Republic TV, hearing on 26 May

  • Being a ‘cry baby’ won’t help Times Group, says Republic TV’s Arnab Goswami

    MUMBAI: The slugfest between the established leader and the new entrant in the national English news genre is getting murkier by the day. After allegations of telecasting Republic TV on multiple feeds by some MSOs surfaced, and the NBA petitioning the TRAI, there were reports of unethical behaviour against the new channel’s editor.

    No might or strategy however seems to be working to put down the self-proclaimed David in its fight with the Goliath. Hours after Bennett Coleman registered a police complaint against the former editor of Times Now, the Republic TV founder and editor Arnab Goswami called up indiantelevision.com to talk about his triumphs in the audio-visual media as well as the social media.

    Excerpts:

    How is Republic TV doing?

    The channel has got tremendous traction — it’s way above on our own expectations. Our digital traction, social media traction — all have been extremely encouraging. We are tracking viewers’ behaviour and their responses to our campaigns and the stories that we are breaking everyday — it is without an iota of doubt we are on path to be the leaders.

    What do you have to say about the police complaint against you?

    I just wanted to say in the response to this attempt by the Times of India Group that  it’s a desperate act of the party which is losing. As I said at the FICCI conference recently, this is the David versus Goliath battle, and the Times of India Group has lost all its viewership.

    They must look at their content and work in their newsrooms, and sit in the police station. If they would have spent more time in their newsroom rather than in the police station, may be, somebody would have watched them. But, essentially, the desperation and paranoia of losing Goliath proves that they are unable to come to terms with defeat. The TOI Group must accept defeat gracefully — it will be better for them.

    The TOI Group must introspect the reasons for their rejection. We telecast a numbers of big stories and exposes from day one of our launch — 6 May. And, people have accepted us with open arms.

    Aren’t you legally on a weak wicket if the tapes which you played in Sunanda Pushkar and Lalu Yadav-Shahabuddin case were actually recorded during your employment at Times Now?

    (Arnab Goswami parries the actual question)

    The Sunanda Pushkar case been going on for two and half years now. Justice has been denied in this case for this period. Journalism is all about pursuing the truth, and I will pursue the truth. I am not responsible if the Delhi Police has not followed up on this case. When we were with Times Now, Prema Sridevi was instructed by her immediate superior of Times Now not to share these tapes with the police.

    You seem to be saying all that is being said against you is totally wrong.

    The paranoid behaviour of the Times of India Group including the impeccably foolish attempt  to claim copyright over the phrase “Nation wants to know” has rendered them a laughing stock in the eyes of the people across the country. Never before has one heard a case of one media house going to the police because of a story done by another media house.

    I would like like thank TOI for giving us the viewership. A senior TOI executive told us that they would be watching Republic TV. Being a “cry baby” would not help the TOI Group.

    You have still not answered our question of whether or not it’s correct to take away material that ethically belongs to your (now former) employer.

    If the Times of India Groups wants to take me to jail, I will walk from here to jail. This will be the first time in the history of journalism that a journalist and editor has sent to jail for for following a murder investigation. Would you not agree that from 6 May, news has not been the same?

    Vineet Jain and the Times Group should invest more time with their lawyers in police stations. But, I have many more news stories to break and follow.

    Are you saying that you would want to win by hook or crook?

    There is no hook and there is no crook, my friend — this is only journalism.

  • Ex-employees Arnab & Sridevi stole ‘material’, Bennett files police complaint

    MUMBAI: Bennett, Coleman & Co has registered a complaint against Arnab Goswami, editor and founder of Republic TV, and reporter Prema Sridevi for infringing its copyright — both former employees of the English news channel Times Now.

    BCCL has filed the complaint with the Azad Maidan Police Station in Mumbai under sections 378, with sections 379, 403, 405, with sections 406, 409, 411, 414 and 418 of the Indian Penal Code, besides Section 66-B, 72 and 72-A of the IT Act, 2000, ET has quoted sources as saying. The complaint alleges commission of offences of criminal breach of trust, theft, misappropriation of property and infringement of the intellectual properties of of BCCL by making use of the same on Republic TV on multiple occasions on 6 May and 8 May this year.

    On the first day of Republic TV’s launch, it telecast what it termed as an ‘expose’ on Lalu Prasad in which audio tapes containing telephone conversations between the former chief minister of Bihar and gangster Shahabuddin, allegedly while the latter was in prison, were played

    Another news story was broadcast on Republic TV on 8 May, in which audio tapes of telephone talks between Sridevi (former news reporter of Times Now) and the Sunanda Pushkar (the deceased wife of the Congress leader Shashi Tharoor) and their house-help Narayan was aired.

    Both these stories had shown material that was procured while both Sridevi and Goswami were in the employment of Times Now, according to the complaint. The ET report stated BCCL has confirmed filing the complaint against Goswami and Sridevi.