Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi (SD)

New Delhi, Sep 10: Arnab Goswami received a jolt after the Delhi high court directed him to restrain from bringing down the rhetoric Shashi Tharoor who sought injunction against defamatory broadcasting on Sunanda Pushkar case until the case is disposed off.

The single bench of Justice Mukta Gupta issued a notice to Goswami highlighting the pending nature of the case and asked him to refrain from calling someone guilty making unsubstantiated claims, as a whole asked the media not to run a 'parallel trial'.

Shashi Tharoor (left) and Arnab Goswami

'The sanctity of an investigation and evidence has to be understood and respected', the court said.

The order resulted after Shashi Tharoor sought interim injunction against Arnab Goswami, Republic TV's anchor to restrain him from broadcasting any news related to the death of Sunanda Pushkar as the case is still pending and not defame the plaintiff or pronounce guilty in any manner on a national platform.

Senior Advocate Kabil Sibal appearing for Tharoor said that despite chargesheet being filed in the case with murder being ruled out, Goswami repeatedly claiming in his shows that Sunanda Pushkar was murdered.

Sibal also pointed out that despite previously directed by the court to refrain from conducting media trials in its order dated December 1, 2017, Goswami continued his claims of murder and said that he does not trust the investigation done by the Delhi police.

Sibal in his claims stated, "Can a man abuse like this in a public debate? How can he (Goswami) say that a murder was committed, when the chargesheet says otherwise? This can't continue like this till the court hears the matter."

"When a case under abetment to suicide is made out in the charge-sheet, why are you still saying that murder has been committed? Were you at the spot, are you an eye witness? You must understand and respect the sanctity of criminal investigation and various contours of it. Just because there is a bite mark, it doesn't amount to murder. Do you even know what constituted murder? You need to first understand what murder is before claiming that a murder took place."

Malvika Trivedi, Goswami's counsel countered Sibal stating that they have credible evidence from AIIMS that points towards Pushkar's murder, however, the court questioned her stating, "You are not in the field of collecting evidence, do you even know how evidence is collected and appreciated in a criminal trial? Can the media act as an appellate authority over what is stated in the chargesheet? There is no gagging of the media, but the law also prohibits media trial."

The court further said, "Press has to exercise care and caution while reporting criminal matters that are under the investigation."

The court has strictly warned Goswami to refrain from making any further claims and comply with the court orders or face consequences. "This has to be strictly complied with, otherwise consequences will follow," the court said.