In a recent judgment, the Delhi High Court dismissed two defamation suits filed 17 years ago by Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer Mahaveer Singhvi against Hindustan Times, its Hindi daily Hindustan, and former editors Vir Sanghvi and Mrinal Pandey, along with reporters Saurabh Shukla and Rakesh Kumar Singh.
The suits stemmed from a series of articles published in 2002 alleging that Singhvi had been dismissed from service following misconduct, including harassment of a woman who had rejected his marriage proposal. Singhvi, a 1999 batch IFS officer, had contested the veracity of these articles, claiming they were gross violations of journalistic ethics with no truth to the reported incidents.
Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, delivering the verdict, stated that the articles in question did not meet the criteria for defamation. “Balancing the right of the public to be informed with the media’s duty of truthful reporting and the individual’s right to protect their reputation, it is held that the articles are not per se defamatory,” she noted.
The judge highlighted that the articles were based on verified information and that their content was neutral, providing a truthful account of the events as understood at the time. The court acknowledged that Singhvi’s dismissal had been overturned by the High Court in 2008, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court in 2010. Despite this, the articles from 2002 were considered fair commentaries based on the sources available to the journalists.
Singhvi’s contention that the articles included false claims about a recorded conversation using expletives was also dismissed. The court observed that the existence of such a tape had not been disputed and that the articles had not attributed any malicious false allegations to Singhvi.
Addressing the broader implications of the case, the court remarked on the enduring nature of personal reputation, asserting that a single unsavory incident at the start of a career does not define an individual’s legacy. “Reputation is built over time through conduct and work. While the incident may have deeply affected the plaintiff, it is his belief in his truthfulness that enabled him to stand up for his rights and seek justice through appropriate channels,” the court said.
The legal teams involved included Advocates Aadil Singh Boparai, Sumer Singh Boparai, and Sadiq Noor representing Singhvi, while Advocates M Dutta and Aditya Guha appeared for Hindustan Times and its journalists.
