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Delhi’s Saket Court on Monday dismissed an application filed by Dainik Jagran seeking removal of Alt News article titled, "Dainik Jagaran’s misleading reports portray mass burials in Prayagaraj haven’t risen due to COVID."

The Civil Judge, Chitranshi Arora, said that Alt News have raised a probable defense, which may or may not be proved at trial.

The application filed by Dainik Jagran said that "The article carries false, incorrect, disparaging and scandalous statements attributing knowledge and complicity on the part of the plaintiff with respect to mass burials in Prayagraj."

The court observed, "Freedom of speech becomes all the more significant when the subject matter is a matter of larger public concern.''

"The impugned article talks about the mass burials in the state of U.P during the horrific second wave of the pandemic Covid-19, which of course, is a concern of and for the masses in India," the Court added.

The application had said that Alt News claiming itself to be fact-checking agency, has no right to defame any agency or individual.

It was further submitted that "The defendants (Alt News) have intentionally and repeatedly published defamatory information intending to lower the reputation of the plaintiff, without making an attempt to verify the facts."

Whereas, Alt News in its response submitted that the application filed by Dainik Jagran is in violation of ‘freedom of press’ guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution of India.

Alt News said, "The article published by the defendants was published after extensive research and review of existing media reports, independent ground investigation and on-record conversations with authorities and the article did not contain anything which was factually incorrect or share any opinion that was not founded upon factual background."

While dismissing the application, the Court said "the defendants have raised a probable defence, which may or may not be proved at trial. However, a prima facie view of the article shows that the defendants have based the contents of the article on various interviews and research. Whether they finally succeed in proving their defence or not is a matter of trial and cannot be determined at this stage. In such a case, where the defence of truth taken by the defendants may stand a chance to succeed at trial, there is no reason for the Court to intervene at such an initial stage."

Case Title: M/s Jagran Prakashan Limited Vs. M/s Pravda Media Foundation and Ors.