Delhi court rejects Dainik Jagran plea seeking removal of Alt News article

A Delhi court today rejected Dainik Jagran's application seeking the removal of a report in Alt News, Bar and Bench reported today. The court said there was "no reason...to intervene at such an initial stage" or to "stifle the ever-widening contours of free speech as developed by the higher courts".

The Alt News report in question was published on June 2. Headlined "Dainik Jagran’s misleading reports portray mass burials in Prayagraj haven’t risen due to COVID", the report said Jagran had "published a series of reports attempting to portray that mass burials have always happened along the banks of Ganga and online media is misleading its readers through sensational coverage of the issue."

Dainik Jagran called the report "misleading". Bar and Bench reported: "It was contended that the Alt News article carried false, incorrect, disparaging and scandalous statements attributing knowledge and complicity on the part of Dainik Jagran with respect to mass burials in Prayagraj."

The court, however, said that "further perusal" of the Alt News report "shows that interviews of priests were taken at the Shringverpur Ghat and Phaphamau bridge to further confirm the contents of the article".