Delhi Court takes cognizance of Zee Media’s defamation complaint against Mahua Moitra

Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal at the Rouse Avenue Court today took cognizance of Zee Media Corporation Ltd’s criminal defamation case against Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra for calling Zee News ‘chor‘ (thief) and paid news..After recording the pre-summoning statement of the authorized representative of Zee News, the Court has listed the matter on August 20, for arguments on summoning..Appearing for Zee, Advocate Vijay Aggarwal showed the Court a video of Moitra where she could be seen remarking that Zee News was ‘chor’ and ‘paid’ news..Zee Corp has stated that on July 3, Moitra made the following statements in front of various persons, including persons from media:.“i. Aap ka jo paid news hai wo kya keh rahe haiI am not bothered about them.. (What your paid news is saying, I am not bothered about it).ii. Aap logon ka jo channel hai wo chor hai, uska owner chor hai, nai nai aap log nai kar sakte kar sakte, mene press release diya hai, aap log itne uneducated aur budwak hai, hum press release abhi de rahe hai.. (Your channel is a thief. its owner is a thief… you all are so uneducated and stupid…). “.It was submitted that Zee has built an impeccable reputation as a premier media house and earned name, fame and reputation in public through sheer hard work. It was also alleged that the “intentional hate campaign” of Moitra has tarnished the reputation of the complainant..Last month, Mahua Moitra had filed a criminal defamation case against Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary for alleging that her June 25 speech at the Parliament on the ‘Seven Signs of Fascism‘ was plagiarized. On July 15, Metropolitan Magistrate Preeti Parewa took cognizance of Moitra’s criminal defamation complaint..Subsequently, Zee hit back with a criminal defamation case of its own against the Trinamool Congress MP. Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudharyalso filed a separate criminal defamation case against Mahua Moitra.