Rs 100 crore in a defamation case

Popular Television channel, Times Now has been slapped with a fine of Rs 100 crore in a defamation case. The hearing of the case at the Bombay High Court was not stayed by the Supreme Court forcing the channel to pay the huge amount.

The channel had to face the music when it showed the wrong picture of Justice P B Sawant, a Supreme Court judge in a story on a provident fund scam for close to 15 seconds by mistake. Several judges were involved in the case. In spite of running an apology scroll for 5 days, Justice Sawant took the matter to court and sent Times Now a legal notice.

In early Oct, the Pune District Court announced Times Now guilty and ordered it to pay Rs 100 crore. The channel appealed against the vedict at the Bombay High Court where it was asked to deposit Rs 20 crore and furnish a bank guarantee for the balance amount.

The Broadcast Editors' Association (BEA) had earlier expressed concern over the court order and said that it would explore legal options since the incident had implications among all TV journalists. BEA is the apex body of editors of national and regional TV news channels of India.