In a criminal defamation case filed by bureaucrat Anant Kumar Singh over an interview published in 1994, the Allahabad High Court upheld the convictions of two journalists and a newspaper publisher. In 1994, an interview with Anant Kumar Singh – the then-district magistrate of Muzaffarnagar – was published in the Pioneer and the Swatantra Bharat newspapers. In this interview, the DM was quoted as saying that seeing a lady in a secluded location like a jungle makes any man want to rape her. The DM, on the other hand, denied giving any such interview. The bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh tabled its decision on Monday 8th August 2022.
The court heard criminal revision petitions submitted by reporter Raman Kripal, executive editor A.K. Bhattacharyathe, and Pioneer News Paper, New Delhi printer, and publisher Sajive Kanwar. On July 16, the verdict in Kanwar and Bhattacharya’s petitions was announced. On Monday, August 8, the Court gave the ruling on Kripal’s plea. The court convicted the accused under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code.
However, the court concluded that because the crime occurred 28 years ago, the benefit of Section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act may be provided in this case. As a result, while allowing the three revisionists’ acquittal on probation, the Court also ordered Kripal to pay Rs 1 lakh and Bhattacharya and Kanwar to pay Rs 50,000 each to Singh within one month.
After the interview was published in 1994, the same day, Anant Kumar Singh sent a denial letter stating that no such interview was conducted. However, a week after that, the letter was printed in the “Letter to Editor” column in a truncated form with the reporter’s retort, leaving the impression that the interview was conducted and the district magistrate made the objectionable statements. Singh then filed a defamation suit.
In 2007, the special chief judicial magistrate of Lucknow convicted and sentenced the accused. In 2012, the court of extra sessions judge affirmed the conviction, which the three accused had challenged in the high court.
