Supreme Court: In a defamation case filed by former Professor , Jawaharlal Nehru University (‘JNU’) against ‘The Wire’, the division Bench of MM Sundresh and Aravind Kumar, JJ. while setting aside the Delhi High Court order that had quashed the summons issued against the Editor and Deputy Editor of ‘The Wire’, has asked the Magistrate to take a fresh call on the issuance of summons after examining the article published by The Wire.
The Wire’s news report had alleged that former Professor was the leader of a group of JNU teachers who had compiled a 200-page dossier terming JNU a “den of organised sex racket”.
The Court viewed that the High Court has certainly exceeded its jurisdiction, as on an application filed invoking Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, the High Court, in the impugned judgment, while finding fault with the reasoning adopted in issuing the summon, went ahead and decided the matter on merits holding that no case of defamation is made out.
Further, it said that “we find that both the High Court and the Magistrate have erred. Suffice to say that the magistrate has not looked at the actual publication; law does not prohibit him from doing the same before issuing summons.”
Source: Press
Buy Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 HERE
