Delhi High Court summons journalist Sudhir Choudhry in activist's defamation case

The Delhi High Court has issued summons and notices to senior journalist Sudhir Choudhry, his production company, and Prasar Bharati (DD News) in a defamation suit. The case relates to Choudhry's show "Decode" aired on DD News, in which a young activist was allegedly wrongly accused.

Twenty-year-old activist and UPSC aspirant Vijay Sherawat filed a petition in the court claiming that Sudhir Choudhry's show wrongly identified him and attributed statements to him that he never made. According to the petition, the show portrayed Sherawat as the person raising slogans such as "Parliament building will be uprooted... Nepal will be made" during a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Jantar Mantar, and his photograph was also shown.

Sherawat maintains that he never made any such statement. According to him, the statement was made by a different person at a separate event. The two individuals also look different. The petition alleges that no verification was done before the broadcast, he was not given an opportunity to respond, and poor quality footage was used so that identification could not be clear.

Sherawat has sought damages of 5 crore rupees in the suit. He has also sought an interim injunction so that the disputed broadcast is not further telecast, published or aired.

The court of Justice Subramaniam Prasad ordered the petition to be registered as a suit and issued notice on the application for interim relief. The court has sought responses from Sudhir Choudhry and the news channel. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for 22 September. The court said the respondent side should be ready to present arguments on interim relief on the next date.

This case once again brings to the fore issues such as verification in journalism, wrong identification, and protection of personal reputation. Until the court's final decision, the claims of both sides remain only allegations.