WHAT IS DEFAMATION?

Any intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a person's reputation; decreases the respect, regard, or confidence in which a person is held; or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person is called defamation.

CASE STUDY

On 30 August 2007, a television news channel called 'Live India' aired a programme based on a sting operation they had conducted that showed Ms. Uma Khurana, a teacher in a school run by the Delhi government, forcing a girl student into prostitution. Subsequent to the telecast, a crowd gathered at the school gate and started raising slogans demanding that Ms. Khurana be handed over to them. In the commotion and mayhem that followed some persons physically attacked the teacher and even tore her clothes. Shocked by this incident and subsequent to public outcry about it, the Directorate of Education, Government of Delhi, first suspended Ms. Khurana and later dismissed her from service. The Delhi Police also started an investigation. The investigation showed that the girl who had been shown as a student who was allegedly being forced into prostitution by Ms. Uma Khurana was neither a school girl nor a prostitute but a budding journalist eager to make a name in the media world. The police found no evidence to show that Ms. Khurana was involved in a prostitution racket.

On 11 September 2007, Uma Khurana issued a case of defamation against the news channel.

She later withdrew defamation complaint against the new channel and its CEO after settling the case with them. In an application before a court here, Khurana said that she has settled the issue "amicably" with regard to the sting operation with a private TV channel and its CEO and did not want to pursue the matter.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The media should check the facts before playing with a persons image. In this case it led to public and national humiliation of a teacher who wasnt involved with anything wrong. Media should not forget its ethics just to gain publicity, more revenue and higher TRPs. Even though the complaint of defamation was taken back and the case was solved amicably, it did tarnish the reputation of a citizen of the country. The media sometimes follows unethical methods to reach the top of a rat race of competition and seldom does it realise that its hurting the emotions of the innocent citizens on its way to the top.

ARZOO BAHL 3RD SEM, BMMMC