In a grim reminder of the Emergency days, the Arvind Kejriwal Government in the national Capital has issued directions to the State Home Department to prosecute all those people or (media) establishments, whose contents “try to defame” the Chief Minister, his Cabinet colleagues or the Government officials.
According to a circular dated May 6, 2015, if by words either spoken or intended to be read or by signs or by visible representations any person makes or publishes any defamatory imputation against the Chief Minister/ Ministers of the Government of NCT of Delhi or any public servant employed in connection with the affairs of the Govern-ment of NCT of Delhi in respect of his conduct in the discharge of his public functions and if the person aggrieved believes that such important has harmed her/his reputation he/she will report the matter in writing to the Principal Secretary (Home).
The circular said that the reference made to the Principal Secretary (Home) should contain the details of the defamatory imputation made/published, the mode of publication, factual inaccuracies in the imputation, details of allegations made and grounds for believing that it will harm the reputation of the person against whom the imputation has been made.
It further said that the Principal Secretary (Home) will examine the matter and will also seek the opinion of the Director (prosecution) as to whether the prosecution under section 499/500 of the IPC is to be launched. This is the first time that such type of a circular is issued. The circular was issued by the Delhi Government’s Directorate of Information and Publicity Department.
“If as the per the opinion of the Director (prosecution) offence of defamation under Section 499 is made out, the Principal Secretary (Home) will refer the matter to the law Department for examining the matter and obtain the sanction of Government under Section 199 (4) of CrPC. After the sanction of the Government is obtained, the Home Department will forward the case to the public prosecutor for making a complaint under Section 199 (2) of CrPC in the court of law of competent jurisdiction,” the letter said.
However, officials in the Government say that there was nothing in the circular which can offend media as there are already provisions in the IPC or CrPC. “A similar circular had already been existed in the Tamil Nadu. There are cases where officials are being harassed by section of media,” they said. The AAP Government is not happy with the media these days. It is noted that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had earlier accused that there is a “conspiracy to finish off AAP” among a “very large” section of the media even as he supported “public trial” of the media.
“A very large section of the media has accepted ‘supari’ for finishing off AAP,” Kejriwal had said. The ruling AAP has come under fire from Opposition parties over the row in connection with Delhi law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar’s degree and in the matter of the alleged suicide by a farmer at a rally led by the party at Jantar Mantar. The Government had earlier blamed media for rift in the AAP. The Government also had earlier banned the entry of mediapersons in the Players Building but later it decided to allow media after second half (from 3 pm onward).
On the other hand, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has advocated freedom of the Press, saying that freedom of the Press should not be violated as it is very important in a democratic set-up. “Freedom of the Press is very important in our democratic set-up and it should not violated,” Singh said, responding to queries from journalists on the sidelines of a function here to award late journalist Vinod Mehta.