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The Delhi High Court on 1 December, Friday said that Republic TV’s right to air stories on the death of Sunanda Pushkar cannot be curbed, but it has to be "tempered and balanced", and that Congress MP Shashi Tharoor cannot be "compelled to speak".
The court also came down on the media, saying it cannot "convict anyone" or insinuate that someone is guilty or make any other "unsubstantiated claims", while reporting on matters under investigation or pending trial.
Justice Manmohan directed that before airing any story pertaining to Tharoor, the news channel shall give him a written notice, by electronic mode, asking for his version.
The order came on three applications in a defamation suit filed by Tharoor claiming Rs 2 crore damages from journalist Arnab Goswami and his news channel Republic TV for allegedly making defamatory remarks against him with regard to the death of his wife Sunanda Pushkar.
The court said that "every individual/accused has a right to silence".
The "culture of thrusting a microphone" in the face of a person needs to be deprecated, said Justice Manmohan.
Republic TV had aired what it called an exposé in the death of Pushkar, playing tapes of a 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.
On 29 May 2017, the court had said that the channel can air stories by stating the facts related to the investigation into the death of Pushkar, but cannot call him a "criminal".
"You cannot call him names. Bring down the rhetoric," it had told Goswami.
Tharoor, in his suit, had said he has suffered humiliation and severe loss of reputation in the eyes of the public.
The plea said that Tharoor has been baselessly declared by the channel as the alleged murderer of his late wife, and sought a permanent injunction against the channel from reporting or broadcasting any news regarding Pushkar's death until investigations are complete.
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