The
Delhi High Court on Monday issued fresh notice to the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) on a plea by an NGO seeking damages, claiming its documentary
"India: The Modi Question" casts a slur on the country's reputation
and makes false and defamatory imputations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi
and the Indian judiciary.
Besides
BBC (UK), Justice Sachin Datta also issued fresh notice to BBC (India) on the
plea filed by Gujarat-based NGO Justice On Trial.
The
counsel for the petitioner NGO informed the high court that notices were issued
to BBC (UK) and BBC (India) earlier but they could not be served. Advocate
Siddharth Sharma, representing the NGO, sought more time to serve the notices
to the defendants.
Issue
fresh notice to the defendants through all permissible modes, the high court
ordered, and listed the matter for further hearing on December 15.
It
had on May 22 issued notice to the defendants on the plea which has said BBC
(UK) is the national broadcaster of the United Kingdom and has released the
news documentary -- "India: The Modi Question" -- which has two
episodes and BBC (India) is its local operations office. It said the two
episodes were published in January 2023.
The
petitioner has sought damages of Rs 10,000 crore in favour of the NGO and
against the defendants on account of the loss of reputation and goodwill caused
to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, the Government of India, the Government
of the State of Gujarat as it was during the period of the Gujarat Riots, and
also the people of India.
The
documentary relates to the 2002 Gujarat riots when Modi was the state's chief
minister.
The
government had banned the documentary soon after it was released.
The
plaintiff organisation, which says it is a society registered under the
Societies Registration Act, 1860 and also registered as a Public trust under
the provisions of the Bombay Public Trust, 1950, has filed the suit for damages
and also sought permission to file as an indigent person.
It
has contended that the documentary contains content which casts a slur on the
reputation of the country and also makes false and defamatory imputations and
insinuations against the Prime Minister of India, the Indian judiciary and the
Indian criminal justice system.
The
plea claimed the "disparaging and defamatory" statements of the
defendant have caused grave and irreparable injury to the reputation of and
denuded the goodwill that has been built by the Prime Minister of India, the
Government of India, the Government of the State of Gujarat and also the people
of India.
It
said the conduct of the broadcaster is actionable and has made them liable to
damages.
The
NGO has filed an Indigent Person Application (IPA) which enables an indigent
person to file a lawsuit.
The
plea said for an order of damages, the relief is provisionally valued for the
purposes of court fees at Rs 10,000 crore and the plaintiff has filed an
application under Order 33 Rules 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC)
seeking permission to sue as an indigent person, since it does not have
sufficient means to pay the court the fee prescribed by law.
Under
the CPC, a plaintiff is obligated to deposit a certain amount as court fees.
Order
33 of the CPC deals with filing of suits by indigent persons. It says a person
is an indigent person if he does not possess sufficient means to enable him to
pay the fee prescribed by law for the plaint in such a suit.
The
quantum of damages can be ascertained only after a fuller enquiry of the extent
of damage caused. However, for the present the plaintiff values the damages at
Rs 10,000 crore.
The
Centre had earlier issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and
Twitter posts sharing links to the BBC documentary, which was described by the
Ministry of External Affairs as a "propaganda piece" that lacks
objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset.