No intention to act against Newslaundry's Manisha Pande; justice should not be casualty of media reporting: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Friday clarified that it has no intention to act against journalist Manisha Pande for her comments in a video calling TV Today's content "shit".

Justice C Hari Shankar said that when he expressed displeasure with Pande's comments in yesterday's hearing, he intended to convey that the language used by her could have been more dignified.

"When we came across certain statements made by the journalist, which were, according to me, not in keeping with certain tenets of journalism, I made certain strong remarks...I am making it clear that I am not intending to act against the journalist or prejudice her career or any such thing. I think the counsel who were here were persons of maturity who understood the spirit in which those statements were made. I still feel that the language used by the journalist could have been more dignified, but that was what was intended to be conveyed..."

Justice Hari Shankar today clarified that he does not intend to cut down or gag the media from reporting court proceedings.

"But, please, while doing that, keep in mind the consequence of that reporting. At the end of the day, it may be justice which is a casualty."

He stated that several social media entities took out and amplified a part of his comment, after which thousands of hate messages followed.

"If that is the consequence, what will happen ultimately is that we will stop interacting. It is because we expressed ourselves strongly that we got excellent response...If we were to keep quiet, we would also not get that reaction from the Bar," he said.

On Pande and the comments he made yesterday, the judge said,

"She may be a good journalist. This may be an aberration also. At that point, that was our gut reaction...You can tell the journalist concerned that she need not be worried about this."

Even though the case wasn't listed today, the Court asked the lawyers in the matter to be present and then made these observations.

A day earlier, the Court had expressed strong displeasure with Pande's comment, calling it “gross” and "disparaging". The Bench also warned that it may make observations and pass an order which will damage Pande’s career. 

“Are you continuing with anchor? She should be thrown out. She has no business being a reporter. She doesn’t know the basics. She doesn’t know the fundamentals of decency in reporting. We will make this statement in open court. We will comment on her personally. We won’t mind impleading her as a party. There has to be a limit to everything… We may pass an order which will place her entire career in disarray,” the Court remarked. 

The remarks were made while the court was hearing appeals filed by Newslaundry and TV Today Network against a single judge's order.

The single judge had rejected interim relief to TV Today in its defamation, disparagement and copyright infringement suit filed by TV Today against Newslaundry.

During the hearing, the Court had also told TV Today that not all of Newslaundry's videos can be termed disparaging. The Bench has reserved verdict on the appeals.