Delhi HC quashes summons issued against The Wire's Editor & Deputy Editor in defamation case by former JNU professor

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday quashed summons issued by the Trial Court in 2017 against the editor and deputy editor of the online news portal ‘The Wire’ in a criminal defamation case filed by former Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU) professor Amita Singh.

Amita Singh, a professor and the Chairperson of the JNU's Center for Study of Law and Governance, had filed a complaint against a number of people, including the editor and deputy editor of The Wire for allegedly implying in the publication from April 2016 that she had prepared a dossier depicting that JNU is a “den of organized sex racket”.

Singh had claimed that she did not prepare any such dossier and that the said imputation was firstly made in an e-magazine which was later published by The Wire, with comments which were defamatory in nature. She claimed that she is a victim of a hate campaign that began after the false information was published by The Wire.

The editor and deputy editor of The Wire challenged the summoning orders issued by the Trial Court in 2017 on the ground that there was no material on record based on which the magistrate court could issue summons to them.

On perusal of the subject publication, the bench of Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani said, “This court is unable to discern therefore, as to how the subject publication can be said to have defamed the respondent when the subject publication nowhere says that the respondent is involved in the wrongful activities; nor does it make any other derogatory reference to her in connection therewith”.

“On a plain, objective, and careful reading of the extract of the subject publication as contained in the criminal complaint, it appears that the controversial dossier exposes wrongful activities that it says are going on within the university campus; and that the respondent was leading a team of persons who compiled the dossier”, the judge added.

The single-judge bench further opined that the subject publication itself was not before the Magistrate court in accordance with the Section 65B of the Evidence Act, and on a plain reading of the extract of the subject publication which was all that was contained in the complaint, there appeared to be nothing “defamatory‟ in it, as understood in law since all it said was that the dossier called-out certain wrongdoing in the university.

“Since, on point of law, there can be no oral evidence in substitution of a certificate under section 65B of the Evidence Act 4, there was no material before the learned Magistrate based on which the summoning order could have been passed”, the court added.

Conclusively, the court ordered, “Summoning order dated 07.01.2017 made by the learned Metropolitan Magistrate in criminal complaint bearing C.C. No. 32203/2016 cannot be sustained in law, and is accordingly quashed and set aside.” Accordingly, the petition was disposed of.

Case Title: The Wire through its Editor & Anr. v. Amita Singh

Statue: The Evidence Act; The Indian Penal Code