The Delhi High Court on Friday expressed displeasure over the way its recent oral observations concerning Newslaundry managing editor Manisha Pande were reported by sections of the media during a defamation case hearing.
A division bench of Justice C. Hari Shankar and Justice Om Prakash Shukla clarified that it had no intention of taking any action against the journalist for her remarks made in a video programme, in which she allegedly referred to TV Today content as “shit”.
The court said its comments from the previous day’s hearing had been taken out of context and sensationalised.
“Before we proceed, yesterday in the hearing, certain strong remarks were made. We do not intend to act against that journalist or her career. The reporting could have been more dignified,” Justice Hari Shankar said, adding that the court was clarifying it was not proceeding against Pande.
The bench was hearing an appeal filed by the TV Today group, which owns India Today and Aaj Tak, alleging defamation and disparagement of its copyright work by Newslaundry.
Newslaundry has also filed a cross-appeal in the matter.
During Thursday’s hearing, the high court had orally observed that TV Today was being “oversensitive” to Newslaundry’s criticism. It had noted that only one of the 75 videos cited appeared objectionable, while the rest were “mere comments”.
On Friday, the court said a portion of its remarks had been extracted and widely circulated on social media, leading to hate messages.
Justice Hari Shankar said the court was not trying to gag the media but urged responsible reporting, warning that misrepresentation of court observations could have serious consequences and discourage judicial interaction.