Tiranga TV dispute: Kapil Sibal offers to settle with Barkha Dutt out of court

Congress grandee Kapil Sibal today told a Delhi court he will try mediation to resolve a suit for damages brought against him by journalist Barkha Dutt.

Sibal and his wife Promila had hired Dutt to run their English news channel Tiranga TV, which was launched early last year. In her plea, filed in October, against the Sibals and their company, Analog Media, Dutt claims she was assured the channel would run for at least two years. It was however shut down after only a few months in July 2019. She’s seeking over Rs 74 lakh plus interest in damages.

At the second hearing of the matter today in the Patiala House court of judge Ravinder Bedi, Sibal’s lawyer filed an application stating that while his clients were preparing a written statement – the Sibals had been ordered to submit a statement by January 17 – “it may be appropriate if the parties are permitted to consider resolving the same amicably through recourse to mediation”.

The application, though, described Dutt’s suit as “legally untenable, baseless and wholly malafide”, and alleged that she had failed to disclose “substantial payments” made to her.

Dutt’s lawyer Raghav Awasthi told Newslaundry he had not yet received any instructions from his client regarding Sibal’s mediation offer. They will take a decision in the coming days, he added.

The court directed Sibal to file his written statement within the next 15 days, and scheduled the next hearing on April 20.

Also read: NCW takes cognisance of Barkha Dutt’s complaint against Tiranga TV’s Promilaa Sibal