By Ritika Jain
Delhi High Court today issued notice on a defamation suit filed by NGO Justice On Trial (JOT) seeking 10,000 crores in damages from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for airing the now-banned documentary “India: The Modi Question”.
The NGO, represented by senior advocate Harish Salve, suggests that BBC—United Kingdom’s national broadcaster—“do not even have a fig leaf of journalistic neutrality and reporting of facts, but appear to be only with a view to casting a slur upon the reputation of the Indian State and its institutions, apart from the reputation of the Gujarat administration including Prime Minster Modi.”
This is at least the third case filed in connection with this documentary which took a critical view of then Gujarat Chief Minister (now Prime Minister) Narendra Modi’s handling of the 2002 Gujarat Riots. The Centre banned the documentary soon after its release on January 23, 2023. Another defamation suit has been filed against BBC in a local Delhi Court, even as the Supreme Court is hearing pleas for and against the ban.
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BBC documentary false and defamatory: Plea in HC
The NGO claims the “thrust” of the two-part documentary suggests that “the investigative and judicial response to the 2002 Riots in Gujarat was biased in favour of the majority Hindu community and failed to identify and punish the perpetrators of violence during the riots.”
This suggestion is ex-facie false and defamatory, the plea read.
The plea further submitted that the “governmental and judicial response to the 2002 riots has been to ensure that the rule of law has been brought to bear on all persons involved, regardless of their status or position”. The documentary “does not even attempt to present these facts in an objective manner,” it added.
“Rather, the intent and purpose of the Defamatory Documentary appear to be only to revive and repackage allegations that have not withstood judicial scrutiny and present outright allegations of motivated persons as irrefutable fact,” it added.
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Cannot afford court fee for plea Rs. 10,000 in damages
Interestingly, the JOT—an Ahmedabad-based NGO that claims to work towards social development and justice—filed the case as an “indigent person” which means they claim to have insufficient means to pay the prescribed court fees. According to the website, ex-Gujarat High Court judge SM Soni is the president of Justice on Trial. Though in the high court the suit has been filed through industrialist Kalpeshbhai Modi, who is also on the board of trustees.
If JOT had filed a normal civil defamation suit, under the Court Fees Act the applicable court fee for seeking damages to the tune of Rs. 10,000 crores would roughly amount to Rs. 97,60,02,344 or just under Rs 100 crores.
Usually, a person with meagre means or an “indigent person” can file a petition to escape court fees. However, there is a process to it.
“There is a process under the civil procedure code (CPC), by which ‘indigency’ is usually recorded against a person, or where a person is declared insolvent (someone who is unable to pay their debts), or unable to pay any court fee. An inquiry usually follows,” advocate Tanveer Mir told BOOM. “When a court is presented with a suit, it also has to see the person claiming damages has a viable cause,” Mir added. Mir explained there are several checks and balances in place to ensure that a person filing the suit has a genuine cause of action and to prevent ‘surrogate litigation’.
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