Journalist Arnab Goswami and his news channel Republic TV told the Delhi High Court on Friday that they have neither “condemned” Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, nor suggested that he was involved in the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.
In their affidavits filed before Justice Manmohan, Goswami and the channel have denied that Tharoor was called “the killer” of his wife by him or the channel, as alleged by the Congress MP.
“They (Goswami, news channel) have been cautious in the reporting of the news in relation to the death of the deceased and have neither condemned plaintiff (Tharoor), nor suggested that he was involved or responsible for the mysterious death,” the replies of the journalist and the channel, filed through advocate Rajat Pradhan, said.
They were responding to the notice issued to them by the court on Tharoor’s Rs two crore civil defamation suit filed against them for allegedly making defamatory remarks against him on the issue of the mysterious death of Pushkar.
The high court had on 4 August had asked Goswami and Republic TV to respect Tharoor's “right to silence,” but did not give an order on the Congress MP's plea to restrain the news network from alleged misreporting on his wife's death.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor had on 3 August filed an application before the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain Republic TV from making defamatory publications against him with regard to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.
Earlier, Tharoor hit out on Republic TV’s journalists on Twitter and said that “their harassment was puerile”.
Other Congress leaders also posted videos of the incident that Tharoor was referring to.
On 29 May, the high court had said the TV news channel can air stories by stating the facts related to the investigation into the death of Pushkar, but cannot call the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram a “criminal”.
The court said that they (Goswami and his channel) cannot use such language and had sought response from the journalist and channel on the defamation suit by 16 August.
In a fresh application through advocate Gaurav Gupta, Tharoor said: “Despite the assurance given by the counsel of the defendants (Republic TV) on the last date of hearing, the defendants are still engaging in defaming the plaintiff (Tharoor) and maligning his image”.
The application stated: "Numerous shows, debates, interviews etc are being broadcast repeatedly on the News Channel of the defendants, wherein innuendos are being used to portray that the plaintiff was complicit in the unfortunate death of the deceased."
"There have also been instances when the plaintiff has been categorically called to be the killer of the deceased," it added.
The Congress leader pleaded that the expression "murder of Sunanda Pushkar" should not be used as it is yet to be established by a competent court of law that the death of his wife was a 'murder'.
The court will hear Tharoor's application on Friday.
Republic TV had recently aired what it called an expose in the death of Pushkar, playing tapes of a purported conversation between a reporter and Tharoor’s assistant Narayan on the night of Pushkar’s death. Pushkar was found dead in a five-star hotel in south Delhi on the night of 17 January 2014.
Tharoor, in his defamation suit, said he has suffered humiliation and severe loss of reputation in the eyes of the public.
He has baselessly been declared by them as the alleged murderer of his wife, said the defamation suit seeking a permanent injunction against the channel from reporting or broadcasting any news regarding Pushkar's death until investigations are complete.
(With PTI and IANS inputs.)
(#TalkingStalking: Have you ever been stalked? Share your experience with The Quint and inspire others to shatter the silence surrounding stalking. Send your stories to editor@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)