The Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the proceedings in a criminal defamation case against the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Hindu, N. Ram, before the Judicial Magistrate of Jagadhari in Haryana.
The Magistrate had issued summons to Mr. Ram on a petition filed by Darshan Lal, Haryana State unit chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).
The case came up for hearing before the single-Judge Bench of the High Court comprising Mr. Justice Surya Kant, on March 7. Staying the proceedings of the lower court, the Judge ordered issue of notice to the parties concerned returnable by May 19. Mr Ram, along with the Printer of The Hindu, P. Balachandran, was represented by their counsel, Rajinder Singh Cheema and Jasdev Singh Mehndiratta.
Mr. Darshan Lal had moved the petition under Sections 499/ 500/ 501 of the Indian Penal Code before the Judicial Magistrate, Jagadhari, alleging that by publishing a report based on the "grossly defamatory" statement of the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Arjun Singh, on August 9, 2004, The Hindu had hurt and caused injury to the reputation of the RSS – an organisation devoted to social and cultural activities only and was aloof from politics.
Arguing for quashing of the petition before the lower court, counsel for The Hindu and its Editor-in-Chief quoted Supreme Court orders protecting the press against malicious prosecution under the provisions of the IPC, where the reports published were accurate and a true record of the proceedings.
Counsel further pointed out that The Hindu had neither taken any sides nor indulged in colouring or distorting Mr. Singh's statement. As a measure of its tradition of following the principle of objectivity, the paper had prominently carried the rejoinder by the RSS spokesman, Ram Madhav, on August 10, 2004.
Counsel also submitted that being a serious newspaper, it was The Hindu's duty to keep its readers informed. It was argued that Mr. Arjun Singh's statement at the "National Convention on Secularism" organised by the Freedom Fighters' Cell of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) in Delhi on August 8, 2004, was published in various papers, apart from The Hindu. The complainants had not provided reasons to single out The Hindu for petitioning the Jagadhari court.
Counsel also questioned the selection of Jagadhari to file a petition, while the Minister had made the statement in Delhi, where the RSS's leading functionaries resided. "This circumstance also underlines the oblique objective behind the institution of the complaint," counsel submitted.
