The Patiala House court in Delhi Thursday took cognizance of the complaint filed by Republic TV against Times Now anchor Navika Kumar for allegedly making defamatory remarks against the channel and its Editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in connection with the alleged WhatsApp chats mentioned in the charge sheet filed by the Mumbai Police in the ‘fake TRP’ scam case.
Taking cognizance of the defamation suit, Chander Jit Singh, the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate has slated the hearing for the case to June 8. Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, one of the top criminal lawyers in the country, had appeared for ARG Outlier Media.
On January 28, the ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd, the parent company of news channel Republic TV had filed a defamation suit against Times Now anchor Navika Kumar for making defamatory statements against Republic TV and Arnab Goswami in connection with the Whatsapp chats related to ‘Fake TRP’ scam.
The petition stated that Republic had taken exception to Kumar’s statements on January 18, 2021, on her show – Newshour. Navika had allegedly made false claims relating to Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami’s Whatsapp chats, which Republic TV said were distorted and misconstrued.
The complaint stated that in an attempt to colour the public’s minds, Navika Kumar spewed reckless and grossly defamatory material and telecast the same on TV and published them on the internet. It also read that Kumar accused the complainant of “building its success” on “TRP manipulation”.
The petition has alleged that Times Now anchor Navika Kumar made “rabid and unfounded claims” accusing Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami of “endangering national security” and “leaking state secrets”.
Republic TV’s parent company ARG Outlier Media Pvt. Ltd had requested the court to take cognizance of the complaint and give punishment to the accused in accordance with the law for the commission of an offence under Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (Punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.