Delhi High Court rejects plea by Times Now Navbharat against bar on airing 'Operation Paap' against AAP MLA

The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to set aside the trial court order restraining news channel Times Now Navbharat from broadcasting 'Operation Paap', a programme which showed an alleged conversation between Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Naresh Balyan and gangster Kapil Sangwan..Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said that in view of the statutory provisions under the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) as well as remedies available to the news channel, the Court is not inclined to interfere with the trial court order at this time. The Bench, however, said that if Times Now Navbharat files its reply in the proceedings before the trial court on or before August 28, the matter shall be decided finally within a week. Justice Arora further said that all the parties should cooperate with the trial court and not seek any adjournments. .On August 17, Times Now Navbharat ran a show under the heading 'Sarji ka vidhayak Gangster ka Sahayak'. A leaked audio was run on the programme alleging that Balyan was talking to Sangwan and planning extortion.The same day, Balyan filed a suit alleging that the authenticity of the audio clip was not verified and that it was damaging his reputation. He further stated that he had received threats from Sangwan and had lodged police complaints regarding this as well..Judge Ajay Kumar Malik of Dwarka court then passed an order restraining the channel from broadcasting the show..Before the High Court, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh appeared for the channel and argued that it is the duty and fundamental right of the channel to bring to public knowledge the nexus between politicians and gangstersSingh stated that the trial court’s order amounts to a gag on the media and such an order is not permissible under our constitutional scheme.“It is the right of a media house, news channel and newspaper to bring to the knowledge of people that these gangs are roaming around and there is a nexus between the politicians and the gang members," he said.The channel further argued that it stands by its programme and that the reporting was factual..Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur represented Balyan and contended that the trial court passed the order based on the statement made by Times Now Navbharat’s counsel and that the channel is now making insinuations against the trial court.“It is a solemn undertaking. There has to be some sanctity attached to it… Can they come here and say that we never made a statement before the court? After the order, the trial court heard the matter on another date. Did they say before that court that we did not make a statement and that this statement needs to be withdrawn,” Mathur argued. He further said that Times Now Navbharat has the statutory remedy available to challenge the order before the appellate court and it is yet to file a response before the trial court..Senior Advocates Maninder Singh and Sandeep Sethi with advocates Kunal Tandon, Niti Jain and Varnalee Mishra appeared for Times Now Navbharat.Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur along with advocates BS Jakhar, Vikram Singh Jakhar and Sandeep Sharma represented Naresh Balyan. .[Read Judgement]