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NEW
DELHI: The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Union
of India, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. and the Delhi Government
on a petition by Zee News Limited (ZNL) praying for quashing
of three FIRs, including the alleged extortion case, against
the group and its editors.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, asked for
the response within four weeks.
The
bench issued notice to them on another Zee Group plea which
questioned the Centre's showcause notice issued to it for
airing a programme in which the news channel revealed the
identity of the male friend and eye witness of the gangrape
case on 16 December. The Centre had asked Zee to explain why
its licence should not be terminated.
The
Zee petition, which has been listed after four weeks, also
seeks a stay of an Information and Broadcasting Ministry notice/communication
of 31 January "to protect the Petitioners from unconstitutional
state action violative of the Fundamental Right of the Petitioners
under Article 19(1)(a)".
Earlier
last month, the Delhi Court had taken cognizance of a defamation
complaint against Congress MP Naveen Jindal and others and
asked the Delhi Police to probe the role of Jindal and 16
other officials of his firm Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL)
who are named in the complaint filed by Zee News Editor Sudhir
Chaudhary.
Metropolitan Magistrate Jay Thareja asked the Station House
Officer of the Tughlak Road in south Delhi to seize the minutes
of meetings and other documents of Broadcast Editors Association
(BEA) regarding termination of the membership of Chaudhary.
The
Police had been asked to give a report within a month and
the case listed for further hearing on 15 February.
Chaudhary
had alleged that "false allegations" were leveled
against him to tarnish his image.
"Keeping
in view the fact that 15 out of 17 accused are residing outside
the territorial jurisdiction of this court - PS Tuglak Road
- and the law laid down in section 202 of the CrPC, it is
directed that SHO, PS Tuglak Road (or his deputy) shall conduct
an investigation qua the allegations made in the complaint,"
the court said.
It
also said the SHO would investigate the role of each of the
respondents relating to the two cause of actions described
in the complaint.
Chaudhary,
who filed his complaint through Zee News Ltd. counsel Vijay
Aggarwal, had earlier said Jindal and JSPL officials had made
"deliberately false" statements and registered a
"false case" against him in the alleged Rs one billion
extortion bid case and defamed him by leveling allegations
against him at a press conference here.
“The
Crime Branch of Delhi Police was doing one-sided investigation,”
said Aggarwal. "Here on, the investigation will be under
direction of the court and seizure of documents too,”
he added, saying “now truth will come out.”
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