New Delhi: After a 30-year battle spanning across Chennai courts, actress R. Sukanya last week got respite from the Madras High Court that awarded her damages of Rs 10 lakh over defamatory remarks made against her by sandalwood smuggler Veerappan in 1996.
A bench of Justice K Kumaresh Babu directed popular Tamil network Sun TV, which had broadcast the allegations, to pay the sum to the actress, upholding a 2015 trial court order delivered in Sukanya’s favour.
In April 1996, Sun TV had aired Veerappan’s interview in which the smuggler had claimed that the actress—who has worked in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu films—was in a relationship with former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao’s son.
Justice Babu observed in his order that Sun TV had recorded the interview for nine hours and reserved the right to edit, cut, delete or modify, alter and add any portion with an unrestricted right. Importantly, the court held that the news channel was duty bound to verify the contents of the interview before its publication.
Though Sun TV had apologised for airing the interview containing the defamatory content, the HC raised doubts over the genuineness of the apology, considering that it was published only in a Tamil magazine and not aired on Sun TV where the interview was originally broadcast.
Saying that it did not find any infirmity with the reasoning given by the trial court to fasten the liability to pay compensation on Sun TV, the HC bench held that “if such a regret (had) been published in its own broadcast, it would have reached the very same viewer who would have viewed the publication it had made earlier”.
The trial court had also noted that the channel must have amassed gains from the commercials aired between the programme. It further said the channel had knowledge about the defamatory allegations made by Veerappan and chose to broadcast them anyway, which clearly showed “ill will” on Sun TV’s part. Since the actress is a public figure, her right to privacy was also violated, the trial court noted.
The said interview was used by late AIADMK supremo and former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa ahead of the general elections in 1996 to strike a deal with the Congress, then led by Rao, the actress stated in court.
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Why Sukanya took Sun TV to court
Sukanya had moved court against the allegations against her, leading to the trial court’s 2015 order and ultimately the Madras High Court order.
Before the HC, Sukanya opposed Sun TV’s appeal against the trial court order, which had directed the news channel to refrain from airing the interview in future. She argued that the defamatory statements clearly referred to her and it was so understood by the viewers.
Not only were these statements offensive, but they also lowered her dignity and image in the minds of her friends, family and the general public, she stated in court.
The channel, by deliberately not removing or obliterating the defamatory content, acted in a purely malicious and reckless way in order to increase their viewership at the expense of Sukanya’s dignity and reputation, she asserted.
Sukanya also alleged that although certain expletives used by Veerappan against her had been muted, the particular portion linking her name to the allegations was deliberately retained despite its untrue nature.
Although Sukanya claimed that she had suffered losses to the tune of Rs 1 crore, as a result of such defamatory statements which reduced her earnings, she said she only sought Rs 10,00,500 as compensation from court. Besides this, she also sought takedown of the interview and requested the court for an injunction which would permanently hinder the channel from publishing it.
She also told the court that legal notices were sent by her to the channel but there was no response.
Sun TV’s defence
In its appeal before the HC, Sun TV argued it had no intention to defame the actress and that the interview carried the caveat that the views shared by Veerappan were entirely his own and the channel held no responsibility for the same.
The channel also pointed to the 1996 apology issued by it in the Tamil weekly magazine Nakkheeran and said the person who conducted the interview had been an investigative journalist for about seven years.
Asserting that the channel had no political vendetta or motive behind airing the interview, Sun TV argued that the point of the interview was to investigate the smuggler’s activities and halt his criminal operations. Moreover, the format of the interview was spontaneous and not scripted, it said.
The channel also expressed doubts about the varying range of damages suffered by the actress since she said the loss caused was in crores while she was only seeking Rs 10 lakh.
Court view
The high court noted that in the 2015 trial court order, it was observed that the original recording was nine hours long and it was edited down to four hours, and aired for a period of eight days in 30-minute slots.
It was also pointed out that since Sukanya was an actress, and consequently a public figure, her right to privacy should be safeguarded.
But Sun TV had failed to exercise its duty of care and caution, that is of checking facts properly, and there was reckless disregard for truth on their part, the high court noted.
It also added that by opting to issue an apology in a third-party magazine, Sun TV had shown malice and that the apology could well have been circulated on the same platform where the original interview had aired.
Pointing to a host of factors like how the channel continued airing the programme even after the actress found it objectionable, and the consequent loss of reputation and earnings suffered by the actress due to the defamatory statements, the court decided the case in favour of Sukanya.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)