In the ongoing defamation case involving Professor Amrita Singh and the digital news platform ‘The Wire‘, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) clarified its stance to the
“den of organised sex racket.”
The controversy began when Ex-JNU Professor Singh initiated a criminal defamation case against ‘The Wire’. The case was in response to a report suggesting that she had prepared a dossier which labeled JNU as a “Den of Organised Sex Racket”. Fast forward to 2023, the Delhi High Court nullified the summons directed at the Editor and Deputy Editor of ‘The Wire’ concerning Singh’s defamation claim. Not satisfied with the High Court’s decision, Singh took her case to the Supreme Court.
During the proceedings, the Supreme Court had previously directed JNU to verify the existence of such a dossier. In the latest hearing, the bench, led by Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Sudhanshu Dhulia, was informed that an affidavit had been filed by the JNU Vice-Chancellor. The Court’s statement read:
“The affidavit filed by JNU states that on the basis of the record maintained by the academic section of the JNU, no dossier of the description matching the contents of the petition was received…. This, according to the petitioner, strengthens her case. Respondent 1 and 2 have also filed their affidavits. Ld. Counsel of the petitioner seeks to submit that they were received only yesterday and would like to file a rejoinder within two weeks. List on November 21.”
Diving into the background, Singh’s complaint, lodged in 2016, revolved around an article by The Wire’s Deputy Editor Ajoy Ashirwad Mahaprastha from April 2016. The piece, titled
“Dossier Call JNU “Den of Organised Sex Racket”; Students, Professors Allege Hate Campaign”,
was at the heart of the controversy. Singh contended that the article insinuated she was behind the dossier that depicted JNU in such a negative light.
Furthermore, Singh’s complaint highlighted that the Editor failed to authenticate the Dossier’s legitimacy and leveraged it for the magazine’s financial gain, tarnishing her reputation in the process. She also claimed that a hate campaign was initiated against her, further maligning her reputation. In 2017, a Delhi metropolitan court issued a summoning order against The Wire’s Editor Siddharth Bhatia and Deputy Editor Ajoy Ashirwad.
However, in March 2023, the Delhi High Court dismissed the summoning order. The Court noted:
“the aforesaid caption only says that the dossier called JNU a “den of organised sex racket”, but nothing in the extract says anything against the respondent herself, much less anything that could be taken to be defamatory of the respondent.”
The case continues under the title: Amita Singh v. The Wire Through its Editor Siddharth Bhatia And Anr. SLP(Crl) No. 6146/2023.