Zee Media has filed a criminal defamation case against the recently elected TMC MP, Mahua Moitra for calling the news channel “chor (thief)” and “paid news”. The matter was listed for hearing in the Court of Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal. Advocate Vijay Aggarwal appeared for the complainant and showed a video where Moitra could be seen calling Zee News ‘chor (thief)’ and paid news. The complaint alleged, “Ms. Moitra had on July 3 made defamatory statements against the company. She knowingly made several frivolous, false, malicious and derogatory statements.”
The complainant’s Advocate stressed upon the TMC MP’s statement calling the “owner of Zee News” a “chor” and others related to the channel as “uneducated” and “budbak (stupid)”. The matter has been posted for consideration on August 1. As per the complaint, the following defamatory statements were made by Moitra in presence of other persons including those from Zee media.
“i. Aap ka jo paid news hai wo kya keh rahe hai, I am not bothered about them.. (What your paid news is saying, I am not bothered about it)
- Aap logon ka jo channel hai wo chor hai, uska owner chor hai, nai nai aap log nai kar sakte, mene press release diya hai, aap log itne uneducated aur budbak hai, hum press release abhi de rahe hai.. (Your channel is a thief. its owner is a thief.. you all are so uneducated and stupid..).”
The complainant also stated through its advocate that the complainant has built its impeccable reputation as a premier media house and earned name, fame and reputation among people through sheer hardwork. The complaint has also stated, “Ms. Moitra had on July 3 made defamatory statements against the company. She knowingly made several frivolous, false, malicious and derogatory statements.”
Earlier, the TMC leader Mahua Moitra had filed a criminal case of defamation against Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary. The case related to her maiden speech in the Lok Sabha on the ‘7 signs of fascism’. Sudhir Chaudhary, in his broadcast, had mentioned an article on an American website and stated, “This is the article from the American website which Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra copied/plagiarised in her speech.” Things had escalated after that with Moitra first bringing a privilege motion against Chaudhary in the Parliament and then filing a criminal defamation case against the Zee journalist.
Zee Media and Sudhir Chaudhary appear to have decided to not tolerate the antics of Mahua Moitra who has incidentally lectured on ‘fascism’ only to later move a privilege motion against the journalist. The Trinamool Congress MP has been called out for her blatant hypocrisy with regards to fascism.