India TV journalist Rajat Sharma sues Congress leaders for defamation

NEW DELHI: Veteran journalist Rajat Sharma has filed a suit in the Delhi High Court against Indian National Congress (INC) leaders Jairam Ramesh, Ragini Nayak and Pawan Khera for allegedly defaming him.

Sharma contended that his solid reputation built over 4 decades was damaged by tweets of the leaders stating that he had used abusive language on air.

A single judge bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna reserved orders on interim relief on Sharma's plea seeking take down of allegedly defamatory tweets regarding an incident on a show on the election result day.

While the Congress national spokesperson Ragini Nayak accused Sharma of abusing her on national television on a show on the Lok Sabha elections counting day, Sharma defended himself saying he's known for his 'civilized and cultured behaviour both on and off screen'.

Senior Advocate Maninder Singh for Sharma argued that he has built and enjoys an impeccable record as a journalist in the past 40 years and that therefore the tweets need to be taken down, as they are causing damage to his reputation.

He added that the clip from the show used by the Congress leaders was doctored, and the abuse inserted mechanically. Further their first claims about the incident were also made 6 days after the alleged incident.

He added that there was no abuse in the actual footage of the live telecast.

Singh argued, “The program is live telecast. They had no grievance till 10th night, for six days. Surely Defendants no. 4-6 (Congress leaders) are having friends, followers and family members who would have pointed out if they heard. They got into some design (against Sharma)…. They insert the abuse in their tweet,” he said.

In a public response to the allegations, shared on X, India TV tagged Nayak and Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera stating that their accusations are “absolutely false and lacked any basis and foundation whatsoever.”

Emphasizing on Sharma's high degree of credibility and vast experience as a journalist, India TV backed him saying, "You have blatantly violated all limits of public decency by falsely accusing a personality of high repute. We are taking legal advice on this to take further action."

Cause Title: Rajat Sharma v. X Corp & Ors.