No Question of Apology, The Wire Tells SC in Jay Shah Case

Amit Shah’s son filed a Rs 100 crore civil defamation suit against The Wire, along with a criminal defamation case.

Jay Shah has filed a criminal defamation case for the article published by The Wire on 8 October last year alleging impropriety in the dealings of Jay Shah.

(Photo: The Quint)

News portal The Wire and journalist Rohini Singh on Monday, 16 July, made it clear that they will not apologise in the criminal defamation case filed by Jay Shah, son of BJP president Amit Shah.

Jay Shah has filed a criminal defamation case for the article published by The Wire on 8 October 2017, alleging impropriety in the dealings of Jay Shah.

Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, appearing for The Wire before a Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud said, “There is no question of apology.”

The court then passed the matter over with a view to take it up at the end of the board but eventually did not hear it and it stood adjourned.

On 18 April, the Court had asked the parties to sort out the case. “See if it can be resolved. Let Senior Counsel (Kapil) Sibal and (Neeraj Kishan) Kaul sit together and talk,” Justice Chandrachud had suggested.

The matter has its genesis in an article published by The Wire alleging impropriety in the dealings of Jay Shah. In reaction to the article, the younger Shah filed a civil defamation suit of Rs 100 crore against the publication and its journalists on 12 October. A separate criminal defamation case was also filed against the publication.

This prompted The Wire to approach the Supreme Court for quashing the criminal case.

(This story was first published on Bar & Bench and has been republished with permission.)