Delhi Court Closes Defamation Case After Jairam Ramesh Apologizes To Vivek Doval

Shreya Agarwal

19 Dec 2020 2:23 PM IST

  • Delhi Court Closes Defamation Case After Jairam Ramesh Apologizes To Vivek Doval

    Criminal defamation proceedings instituted against Indian National Congress leader, Jairam Ramesh, by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's son, Vivek Doval, were closed today by a Delhi Court pursuant to an apology by Ramesh.Ramesh in his apology said that he wanted to clarify that the alleged defamatory statements were made by him drawing conclusions from an article published by The...

    Criminal defamation proceedings instituted against Indian National Congress leader, Jairam Ramesh, by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's son, Vivek Doval, were closed today by a Delhi Court pursuant to an apology by Ramesh.

    Ramesh in his apology said that he wanted to clarify that the alleged defamatory statements were made by him drawing conclusions from an article published by The Caravan magazine and that as the case progressed, he realised that perhaps an independent verification before publishing the statements may have been in order.

    He said, "However, the General Elections were close and the questions raised in the article seemed appropriate for being highlighted in making certain insinuations against you and your family.
    Thus, I would like to offer my apologies to you and your family for any hurt the statements may have caused."
    He has also urged the Indian National Congress to remove the relevant press conference available on their website.
    The case was instituted on a complaint by Vivek Doval in connection with Ramesh's press conference over The Caravan's article titled The D Companies.
    Appearing before the Additional Metropolitan Magistrate, Rouse Avenue, Ramesh said that his allegations against Doval were made in the spur of the moment. Doval has accepted the apology.
    Vivek Doval had also filed the case against magazine, The Caravan, and journalist Kaushal Shroff, following the publication of The D Companies. The case against the magazine and the Shroff is still ongoing.
    The Court had summoned Ramesh, The Caravan magazine's editor and its reporter as accused on April 25 after Doval's complaint.
    The Caravan had alleged in its article that Vivek Doval, "runs a hedge fund in the Cayman Islands" which is "an established tax haven".
    Earlier, Vivek had recorded his statement before the court, stating that all the allegations leveled by the magazine and later repeated by Ramesh at a press conference were "baseless" and "false" and damaged his reputation in the eyes of family members and professional colleagues.
    [Read Statement]



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