SC sets aside Delhi HC order quashing summons to editors of The Wire in defamation case

The Supreme Court has set aside a Delhi High Court order that quashed a summons issued to the editor and deputy editor of online news portal The Wire in a criminal defamation case over a publication on a dossier allegedly depicting the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi as a "den of organised sex racket". The Bench was also critical of the trial court's order of issuing summons and said the magistrate had not looked into the actual publication made by The Wire. On March 29 last year, the High Court, while setting aside the summons issued against the editors of the news portal, said it was unable to discern how the article could be said to have defamed the complainant, when it "nowhere says that the respondent is involved in the wrongful activities nor does it make any other derogatory reference to her in connection therewith". "Summoning order dated January 7, 2017 made by the metropolitan magistrate in criminal complaint bearing CC No.. cannot be sustained in law, and is accordingly quashed and set aside," the High Court had said.