A Delhi court on Wednesday issued summons to BBC, Wikimedia Foundation and Internet Archive after a defamation suit was filed by Jharkhand BJP leader Binay Kumar Singh over the BBC’s controversial documentary on PM Modi. Singh, who is also associated with RSS and VHP, had filed a defamation suit against the BBC, Wikimedia Foundation and Internet Archive over the documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ aired by BBC in January this year.
Additional District Judge Ruchika Singla of Rohini Courts issued the summons and listed it for hearing on May 11. The court has given 30 days to the defendants to file written replies to the suit. The suit states that the allegations made in the documentary against the RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad are motivated by malicious intent to defame the organizations and their members or volunteers.
Binay Kumar Singh, who is also an author, researcher and TV panellist, said in the suit that he had to suffer defamation due to the defamation caused to the organisations, the RSS, VHP and BJP, with which he is associated, over the documentary which has been already banned by the Central government. The valuation of the suit which has been filed through Advocate Mukesh Sharma is Rs 10 lakh.
“The allegations made against the RSS and VHP are motivated by a malicious intent to defame the organizations and its millions of members/ volunteers. Such unfounded allegations are not only baseless but also have the potential to damage the reputation and image of the RSS, VHP and its millions of members/ volunteers, who have committed themselves to upholding the cultural, social and national values of India,” the suit said.
According to the suit, Singh on April 13 this year was called by one of his friends who criticized him and expressed dismay over his association with the RSS. Singh said that his friend called him after watching the controversial documentary which has directly held RSS and VHP responsible for the widespread and systematic rape of Muslim women, purging of Muslims from Hindu areas and mass murder of thousands of Muslims in Gujarat.
Binay Kumar Singh’s friend also claimed that since he (Singh) was associated with the RSS and the VHP, he was also liable for mass killings, rapes and purging in Gujarat during the 2002 incident. On asking the source, the friend identified as Gajendra scolded the plaintiff and said that the entire material of the event was readily available to the world over the internet.
Binay Kumar Singh claims that he then discovered that the two parts of the already-banned documentary are still available on Wikipedia and the Internet Archive. “Wikipedia admits that the documentary is already banned but provides the links to both the parts of the documentary to the general public at large,” the suit which seeks damages Rs 10 lakhs read.
The plaintiff also added that the Indian government had imposed a ban on the documentary and thereafter it was uploaded on the Internet Archive platform, and the link to it is widely being disseminated by Wikipedia. He said that the RSS and other organizations associated with it are prestigious and the documentary has damaged the reputation of these organizations by publishing unverified and fake claims.
“The allegations made against the RSS and the VHP are motivated by a malicious intent to defame the organization and its millions of members. The allegations are baseless and defamatory,” he added.
Links to the banned documentary still available
Advocate Mukesh Sharma while talking to OpIndia confirmed that the Court has issued summons to all three defendants in the case and has asked them to file their written statements within 30 days. “On May 11, the next hearing date, the Court will hear our arguments regarding removal of the links of the documentary which is still available in the cyber space of our country,” he added. “The links he said are still available on the Wikipedia page of the documentary.
Documentary’s purpose is to demonize, defame Modi ahead of 2024 elections, says Binay Kumar Singh
The plaintiff Binay Kumar Singh also talked to OpIndia and said that the defendants in the case have violated the law by illegally making available the banned documentary. “The documentary is banned and the links to it are still available in the Indian cyberspace. This shows how much these persons (defendants) respect the Indian government and the Indian law. All three the BBC, Wikimedia Foundation and the Internet Archives have been served notice,” he said.
Further slamming the BBC, he said that the organization is a criminal enterprise and they have a long history sheet. “They have misreported many cases not only in India but worldwide. There are cases of war misreporting. There are severe allegation of sexual abuse against their senior officials inside the BBC premises. And most of the allegations still remain unanswered. When it comes to India, the bias of BBC is in open,” he added.
According to Binay Kumar Singh, the controversial documentary produced by BBC recently is based on a subject which has been long discussed in the Court and the matter now has been closed. “It was just produced to trigger violence and create enmity between different communities in the country especially Hindus and Muslims ahead of the 2024 elections,” Singh said adding that this is part of the larger mallicious intent to defame and demonize Prime Minister Modi.
“BBC is not an epitome of credibility. It has criminal history, in India and also outside India. First, making a documentary on a topic on which the court has alredy given its decison is contempt of court. And secondly, they are making the links available to the already banned documentry. This is illegal and shows the criminal stance of the defendants,” Binay Singh added.
On asking about the steps that need to be taken by the government in the case, the author and researcher said that an official FIR should be filed against the defendants as they have disrespected and violated the Indian law. “These people (defendents) have time and again showed that they do not bother about the Indian legal and the administrative system,” he opined.
The case will next be heard on May 11, 2023.
The controversial documentary was banned by the government on January 24 this year. However, the jurisdiction of this ban is limited in India, and the two-part documentary is legally available outside India. It is not known whether Indian courts can order the removal of material from Wikipedia and the Internet Archive. However, a court can order to ban the URLs in India that contain the links.
