Supreme Court Hears Plea Of Former Chancellor Of Maulana Azad National Urdu University Against Defamation Case For Remarks Against Professor

The Supreme Court today (September 27) orally remarked that they will ask former Chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), Firoz Bakht Ahmed, to publish an apology in a newspaper in connection with the “sexual predator” remark he made against Dean of the School of Mass Communication and Journalism of the MANUU, Professor Ehtesham Ahmad Khan.

Reportedly, Firoz Bakht Ahmed had written to the then Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Prakash Javadekar, calling Professor Ehtesham Ahmad a sexual predator in connection with allegations of "sexual harassment and humiliation" of female students at the university. 

Profession Ehtesham has filed a case for defamation under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code against Firoz Bakht, alleging that the remarks were made even though the University's Internal Complaints Committee did not find any evidence against him.

A bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and V.K. Vishwanathan is hearing a petition filed by Firoz Bakht against the order of the Telangana High Court refusing to quash criminal proceedings initiated by Professor Ehtesham in connection with these remarks. 

Advocate for Firoz Bakht briefly informed the Court that an affidavit of apology had been filed. To this, Advocate for Professor Ehtesham responded that he has objections to the apology.

Directing the matter to be kept for next week, Justice Gavai orally remarked: "We will ask him to  to publish an apology in newspapers. We will ask him to publish in bold letters..."

Case Details: FIROZ BAKHT AHMED Vs THE STATE OF TELANGANA, SLP(Crl) No. 9236/2024

Appearances: Senior Advocate Vibha Datta Makhija (for petitioner)

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