Court takes cognizance of defamation complaint filed by Zee Media against Sucheta Dalal, another director of Moneylife Digital

Magistrate of Patiala House Court on Saturday took cognizance of the defamation complaint filed by Zee Media Corporation Ltd (ZMCL) against journalist Sucheta Dalal over an article that is alleged to be defamatory in nature. The complaint, which has been filed for publishing a defamatory article, tweets and uploading a YouTube video, is also against another director and the company - Moneylife Digital Pvt. Ltd. If convicted, the concerned persons might face up to two years in prison. 

Sucheta Dalal is a well-known Indian business journalist and author for over two decades and was awarded a Padma Shri for journalism in 2006.

On 29.06.2023, Dalal published an article, and further tweeted the same and did a YouTube video, which has been alleged to be defamatory in nature. The video was uploaded by Moneylife Digital Pvt. Ltd on its YouTube channel. 

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal, along with advocate Yugant Sharma and advocate Pankush Goyal appeared on behalf of the complainant, Zee Media and stated that the accused person has published an article on the website of Moneylife Digital Pvt. Ltd containing nothing but false allegations and defamatory statements against the complainant's company including its mentor, Dr. Subhash Chandra.

Advocate Vijay Aggarwal showed the portion of the defamatory article and argued that the article, tweets and video targeted Zee Media without any rhyme and reason and contained the words ‘chequered past’ and ‘Zee group’s dodgy business’ which is false, scandalous, misleading and derogatory at the least. Aggarwal further said that Dalal is intentionally accusing the Zee Group of being engaged in corruption.

After hearing the arguments of Aggarwal, Magistrate took cognizance of the complaint filed by Zee Media Corporation Ltd against Sucheta Dalal, one director and the company - Moneylife Digital Pvt. Ltd. If Dalal, along with other accused, happens to be convicted, the offence of defamation provides simple imprisonment which may extent up to two years.