In 2015, journalist Sandhya Ravishankar had written articles for the Economic Times on illegal beach sand mining in Tamil Nadu. A case of criminal defamation was filed against the journalist which was quashed by the Madras HC on Wednesday. The HC made pertinent observations regarding the role of the higher judiciary in safeguarding the freedom of press. The Court was dealing with a plea to set aside criminal defamation proceedings after a Tirunelveli Court issued summons against Ravishankar, her husband, “The Editor” and “Grievances Redressal Officer” of the Economic Times.
Allowing the plea, Justice GR Swaminathan stated that, “I am clearly of the view that there is no point in merely singing paeans to freedom of press, if one cannot go to its rescue when the said right is faced with a serious threat.”
The Court also cited the US case of New York Times v. Sullivan. The Sullivan case lead to the framing of the actual malice test for defamation, which, it was noted, meant that “liability could be imposed only if the maker of the statement either knew it was false, or published it with reckless disregard for its truth or falsity.”
In view of these observations, the Court found that there was no case of defamation made out against Sandhya Ravishanker and the Editor of the Economic Times.
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