Delhi High Court quashes summons in criminal defamation proceedings initiated against The Wire by JNU professor

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday quashed the summons issued by a Magistrate court in criminal defamation proceedings initiated by a JNU professor, Amita Singh against online news portal The Wire. .Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani passed the order on Wednesday afternoon stating that there was no material before the Magistrate based on which the summoning order could have been passed."As a sequitur to the above, summoning order dated 07.01.2017 made by the learned Metropolitan Magistrate in criminal complaint bearing C.C. No. 32203/2016 cannot be sustained in law; and is accordingly quashed and set-aside," the single-judge said. .While setting aside an order of the Magistrate, the Court also noted that the publication did not claim that Singh (respondent) was involved in any wrongdoing. Further, it did not speak of the respondent in any derogatory, derisive or denigrating terms."This court is unable to discern therefore, as to how the subject publication can be said to have defamed the respondent.".Singh had filed a criminal defamation case against The Wire and its editor Siddharth Varadrajan and reporter Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprashasta in 2016. .The defamation proceedings were initiated in relation to a story published on The Wire which stated that a group of JNU professors compiled a 200-page dossier calling JNU a "den of organised sex racket". .According to The Wire, the dossier was titled ‘Jawaharlal Nehru University: The Den of Secessionism and Terrorism'. Amita Singh, a professor at the Centre for Law and Governance, was stated to be leading the group of teachers that prepared the report. The story said that this report was submitted to the JNU administration and that the dossier accused some JNU teachers of encouraging a decadent culture in JNU and legitimising separatist movements in India. .The magistrate court had issued summons in the case in February 2017. The Wire challenged the same. However, last year The Wire again came to the High Court stating that despite seven years having passed and even though the matter is pending here, the magistrate was only poised to framing notice in the matter. Justice Bhambhani had then stayed the proceedings before the trial court..Senior Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan along with Advocates Rahul Kripalani, Rea Bhalla and Supraja V appeared for The Wire. The respondent was represented by Advocate Alok Kumar Rai. .[Read Order]