Srinagar: Peoples Conference General Secretary and former minister Imran Raza Ansari, also a Muslim religious cleric on Wednesday, filed a suit for defamation against 15 national media agencies for publishing false and defamatory news about him in connection with raids of the central income tax department in Srinagar on April 25 this year.
The media agencies against whom Imran Raza Ansari has preferred the suit includes Asian News International (ANI), News Nation, Network Pvt. Ltd., , The Hans India, U4U Voice, News18 Network, India TV, Yahoo India, The Northlines, Zee News, News Nation, Business Standard and many other media institutions.
A full text of the statement issued by Ansari to news agencies, news channels and newspapers reads as under:
On April 25th, 2019, Income Tax Department early in the morning carried out raids at a business establishment in Srinagar. Nobody, except the officials of the Income Tax Department who had come from Amritsar to carry out the raid, had any information about the raid.
However, these media agencies without any proof or without even confirming the actual facts of the raid or seeking confirmation from Imran Ansari, broadcasted on their news channels and also updated on their online portals that Income Tax Department had raided residential house of the Imran Ansari and his business establishment.
Imran Ansari immediately denied the fact that these raids were over his properties through his Twitter handle. These media news agencies, however, continued publishing the defamatory news and did not even clarify the actual facts.
Imran Ansari’s counsel Mr. Hakim Suhail of H.I.H Associates & Advocates, while speaking about the case said that, “These news agencies have reported baseless, defamatory and malicious news against Mr. Ansari without adducing even an iota of any evidence.
Through the said defamatory and mala fide news, they have caused irreparable damage to his image and reputation. Parliamentary elections are underway in the State of J&K in which the brother of Mr. Ansari is also a contesting candidate. The elections for the J&K Legislative Assembly are about to be held in which Mr. Ansari will be contesting.
The news in question has severely damaged his reputation in the eyes of general public which would directly affect his prospects in the elections adversely. The IT Department did not disclose the identity of the person(s) whose premises were raided, how were these media agencies so sure that the premises raided were owned by Mr. Ansari and they reported the same when the raid was in fact still going on.”
Imran Ansari while reacting to the news said that these media groups have clearly abused the powers entrusted upon them as responsible news forums. The news published by them is a story which is totally cooked up, false and nothing but a figment of imagination on their part.
The allegations which have been made against me are absolutely false, baseless and defamatory. These have been made willfully, knowingly with ulterior motives & pre-planned, pre-decided news item without any regard for the truth.
This has been done without even taking the elementary care to check the alleged facts. I have every reason to believe that I have been connected to the same purposely without verification of facts to damage my honesty and integrity.
Another counsel from H.I.H Associates & Advocates while elaborating on the case said, “The defamatory and false content published by the 15 media groups amount to libel. Such defamatory content has caused great mental pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and anxiety to Imran Ansari and has also impaired and injured his reputation and standing in the community and caused personal humiliation, shame, and disgrace to him.
Imran Ansari is therefore entitled to recover damages to the tune of Rupees One Hundred Crores (Rs. 1,000,000,000/-) for the harm, loss, injury and damage caused to his personal and professional reputation.
