Punjab and Haryana High Court refuses to quash defamation case against Aaj Tak

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently declined to quash proceedings in a criminal defamation case against TV Today Network-owned Aaj Tak [TV Today Network Limited v State of Haryana and Another].The police in Gurgaon has charge-sheeted Aaj Tak and other media channels for defaming former Haryana MLA and businessman Gopal Kanda (Gopal Kumar Goyal) by linking him to the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and actor Sonali Phogat in 2022. TV Today challenged a judicial magistrate’s order directing the police to register a non-cognizable case (NCR) on Kanda’s complaint.The news channel also challenged the subsequent chargesheet filed against it. .Justice Tribhuvan Dahiya noted that since Kanda’s complaint had disclosed a non-cognizable offence, he had moved the magistrate under Section 155 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). The magistrate had then directed the police to register the NCR and conduct investigation, the Court added.The Court ruled that the magistrate has the jurisdiction to issue such a direction to investigate a non-cognizable offence under Section 155(2) of the CrPC. Thus, it opined that no exception can be taken to procedure followed and the investigation carried out after registration of the NCR..TV Today argued that procedure adopted by the magistrate in issuing directions to the police was not as per law since in a defamation case, recourse to Section 156(3) of the CrPC cannot be taken in view of a specific bar under Section 199 of the CrPC on lodging of any FIR and consequent investigation.However, the High Court found that the magistrate in the present case had not issued any direction under Section 156(3) of CrPC for FIR registration.“Investigation in the case has been carried out on the basis of complaint by second respondent disclosing non-cognizable offence against the petitioner, and chargesheet has been filed pursuant to directions issued under Section 155(2) CrPC,” the Court said while dismissing the plea filed by TV Today Network..Advocates Hrishikesh Baruah and Jasneet Kaur represented TV Today Network Limited.Senior Deputy Advocate General Tanushree Gupta represented the State of Haryana.[Read Judgment]