Wire-Jay Shah : “They were acting as mouthpiece for political opponents”, Neeraj Kishan Kaul

The case in the Supreme Court relating to criminal defamation against news portal The Wire and journalist Rohini Singh has been listed for final disposal on August 8 at 2 pm..A Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud passed the order today acceding to the request of both parties to decide the case urgently..Senior Advocate Raju Ramachandran appeared for The Wire and Rohini Singh while Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul appeared for Jay Shah..Ramachandran told the court that the matter needs to be heard out and asked the Court to fix a date..Kaul meanwhile alleged that the article is false and was done at the behest of the ‘political opponents’..“What was the need for taking the names of his father etc. Statements are being made inside and outside the Parliament. They were acting as a mouthpiece for political opponents”, alleged Kaul while also questioning the veracity of the facts stated in the article..The Court then proceeded to fix the matter for final disposal on August 8 at 2 pm..The matter has its genesis in an article published by The Wire alleging impropriety in the dealings of Jay Shah. In reaction to the article, the younger Shah filed a civil defamation suit of Rs. 100 crore against the publication and its journalists on October 12. A separate criminal defamation case was also filed against the publication..This prompted The Wire to approach the Supreme Court for quashing the criminal case..Read the order below.