In a recent order, the Delhi High Court discharged Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami in a contempt of court against him by former Executive Vice-chairman of TERI, RK Pachauri.
The Court accepted Goswami's unconditional apology, which his counsel said was being tendered without going into the merits of the case and discussing its maintainability.
Pachauri had filed a contempt of court petition against several media houses in February 2016 for “deliberately and contemptuously” disobeying the court’s orders restricting them from publishing sexual harassment claims against him.
Pachauri, who died in February 2020, was accused of sexually harassing a colleague when he was leading TERI.
In his petition he had argued that he was being subjected to a media trial and that the reports carried by the publications were defamatory and prejudicing his case.
At the time, Goswami was the editor of Times Now and Roy, the executive co-chairperson of NDTV.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora also discharged The Economic Times and its Senior Assistant Editor, Raghav Ohri. They had also tendered their apologies in the case.
However, the Bench dismissed the case against former NDTV promoter, Prannoy Roy on merits, while noting that NDTV's report fell within the bounds of fair reporting because Pachauri’s stand denying the allegations was duly reported in the story.
(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.)