In a crucial development, the Supreme Court has allowed news portal, The Wire and its journalists to withdraw their plea against a Gujarat High Court order in a defamation case filed by Jay Shah, Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son. The apex court also expressed its anguish over the kind of journalism that is being practised in the country. The Supreme Court also said that the trial against them will be conducted expeditiously by a competent court. Jay Shah’s complaint was filed against journalist Rohini Singh, founding editors of the news portal Siddharth Varadarajan, Siddharth Bhatia and M K Venu, managing editor Monobina Gupta, public editor Pamela Philipose as also the Foundation for Independent Journalism, which publishes The Wire.
The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra and also comprising of M R Shah and B R Gavai opined that it has become a fashion to serve notice to an individual for explanation and even before an answer can be given, the article is published. Therefore, the top court expressed concern about the new journalistic practice of giving a short notice to an individual and publishing stories even before an answer can be given. The apex court bench said, “The institution has suffered. We have suffered. What is this kind of journalism. Why we should not take the issue suo motu and settle it.” The bench also stated that it was unfortunate that the matter was pending for so long and now it was being withdrawn. The bench also said, “Freedom of press is supreme but it can’t be one-way traffic.” It added, “yellow journalism should not take place”.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta was in agreement with the Supreme Court observation that short notice should not be the criteria for making publications against an individual. The apex court observations must have come as a setback for the news portal as the top court has made unambiguous observations against the practice of serving short notices to individuals and publishing articles against them even before an answer is given.
The Wire had published a report stating that Jay Shah’s turnover had increased 16,000 times in the year after Narendra Modi was elected as Prime Minister following which a defamation suit worth Rs 100 crore was filed by the Jay Shah against The Wire. The attempt by The Wire, a known anti-establishment news website to link the fortunes of Jay Shah to the rise of Shri Narendra Modi was shameful and can only be called, for lack of a better term, a cheap shot to slander the Prime Minister. It must be noted that earlier a Gujarat High Court order had clearly stated, “The defendants have failed to show any justification about the nexus of the Prime Minister with the increase in the business of the plaintiff’s company”. Before that the trial court had also recorded its satisfaction to the effect that, “…the defendants have failed to show any direct or indirect nexus of association with the Prime Minister as regards the increase in the business of the plaintiff. The defendants have failed to show any justification to the effect that following the election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister, the plaintiff has flourished.”
