Thus, the ultimate credit is being given to the author of the book – who may
or may not be connected with the preparation of the video and uploading of
the same.
28.
The contents of the video are not being repeated in this judgment, in
order to ensure that the same is not further published, as rightly contented by
Mr. Nigam. There is no doubt that reading of the transcript, or a viewing of
the video clearly attempts to give an impression to the viewers that the
Plaintiffs have been involved in various murders, financial irregularities,
misuse of animal parts, etc. However, all this information, as per the video,
has been derived not independently, but as a summary of the book itself.
Thus, the judgment in CM (M) 556/2018 dated 29th September, 2018 clearly
becomes relevant. A perusal of the said judgment shows that the ld. Single
Judge, after considering the law of defamation, including the balance
between the Article 21 and Article 19(1)(a) has concluded that the content of
the book is not justified. The implicit allegations have been held to be prima
facie untrue. The ld. Single Judge has arrived at the following findings:
―139. In the instant case the avowed contentions of
the petitioner have been that as regards the
publication in ―Chapter 16 Mystery 2 : The Guru‘s
Disappearance‖ in the BOOK to implicitly state that
the petitioner was somehow involved or complicit in
the disappearance of his Guru Shanker Dev Ji and that
further he, the petitioner having used his influence
with the Government was able to scuttle the
investigation which was not handled in a fair and
transparent manner, coupled with the factum that the
said publication came to the knowledge of the
petitioner on 29.07.2017 after the Special Judicial
Magistrate (CBI)/ACJM(I) Dehradun vide order dated
CS (OS) 27/2019
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