Delhi High Court Closes Contempt Case Against Arnab Goswami, Accepts Unconditional Apology; Dismisses Charges Against Prannoy Roy
In a recent development, the Delhi High Court has brought an end to the contempt of court case filed by RK Pachauri, former Executive Vice-chairman of TERI, against Arnab Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV. The Court accepted Goswami's unconditional apology and subsequently dismissed the case against him. Goswami's legal counsel expressed their client's apology without engaging in the merits or maintainability of the case. Additionally, the Court discharged The Economic Times and its Senior Assistant Editor, Raghav Ohri, who also tendered apologies in the matter.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora, presiding over the case, acknowledged the written unconditional apologies submitted by the respondents and their compliance with the ad-interim orders. As a result, the Court accepted their apologies, discharged Respondent Nos. 2, 3, and 5 (The Economic Times, Raghav Ohri, and Arnab Goswami), and subsequently disposed of the petition concerning them.
However, the Court dismissed the case against Prannoy Roy, former promoter of NDTV, on its merits. It recognized that NDTV's news report fell within the bounds of fair reporting as it duly included Pachauri's denial of the allegations. Accordingly, the present petition against Respondent No. 4 (Prannoy Roy) was dismissed.
The contempt of court petition was filed by RK Pachauri in February 2016, alleging deliberate and contemptuous disobedience of the court's orders by several media houses, which published sexual harassment claims against him despite the restrictions. Pachauri argued that he was being subjected to a media trial, and the reports published by the media were defamatory and prejudiced his case.
Notably, at the time of filing the petition, Arnab Goswami was the editor of Times Now, and Prannoy Roy served as the executive co-chairperson of NDTV. It's important to mention that Pachauri, who faced allegations of sexual harassment from a colleague during his tenure at TERI, passed away on February 13, 2020.
Advocate Ashish Dixit represented RK Pachauri, while Senior Advocate Malvika Trivedi and advocates Aman Avinav and Rahul Tyagi represented Arnab Goswami. Senior Advocate Siddharth Aggarwal, along with advocates Milanka Chaudhury, Naina Dubey, and Ravneet Singh, appeared for Prannoy Roy. Advocate Ashish Verma represented The Economic Times and Raghav Ohri.
Click Here to: Download/View Related File
TAGS: Delhi High Court contempt case Arnab Goswami apology dismisses Prannoy Roy RK Pachauri media houses sexual harassment claims fair reporting petition Court orders
