Delhi High Court issues notice in BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal petition for contempt action against TOI

The Delhi High Court recently issued notice to the Times Group in a petition filed by BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal seeking contempt action against the publication for allegedly violating a 2011 trial court order by publishing defamatory content against him. (Sudhanshu Mittal v. Vineet Jain & Ors).Justice Sachin Datta issued notice to Vineet and Sameer Jain, the Managing Directors of Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd, which owns the Times Group. Additionally, notices were issued to editorial team members including Rajesh Kalra, Vikas Singh, and Jaideep Bose.The Court sought a reply within four weeks, and listed the matter for January 24, 2023..In 2010, Mittal had filed a defamation suit against the Times Group for a report published by them on a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raid carried out at his residence in relation to the Commonwealth Games scam.In his plea, Mittal had argued that the report was published with the intent to defame him. He thus sought a permanent and mandatory injunction against Times of India (TOI).However, following an apology tendered by TOI, which also took down the article, the trial court dismissed the case..The issue resurfaced in June 2011, when TOI published another article regarding Mittal's interrogation by the CBI in which it referred to the contentious article that was taken down.Thereafter, on July 28, 2011, Mittal filed a contempt petition under Sections 11 and 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 at the Tis Hazari Court. Following this, the Times Group and its editors were directed by the trial court to verify any news content on Mittal from its originating source and to publish the same only after confirming its accuracy.Since the parties could not arrive at a compromise, the Times Group filed an appeal before the Delhi High Court. In November 2011, the High Court recorded the willingness of the parties to settle the dispute, and the editors of TOI agreed to publish a corrigendum on the newspaper's front page. Thereafter, the plea was disposed of..Ten years later, in November 2021, Economic Times once again published 'defamatory content' against the BJP leader, in alleged violation of previous court orders. This prompted Mittal to filed the present plea..Senior Advocate Mohit Mathur along with Advocates Gagan Gandhi, Ratakshi Sarvaria, Sushant Kumar and Harsh Gautam appeared for Mittal..[Read order]