6 months after report, BJP MP Atul Garg alleges defamation; journalist held in UP

Khan is the editor of local Hindi daily Aap AbhiTak.

The matter pertains to a report in the publication on April 12 this year, on a press conference addressed by Congress candidate Dolly Sharma in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. The report, with the headline ‘Bhajpa ne bhoomafia Atul Garg ko hi bana diya Lok Sabha pratyashi’ (BJP picks land mafia Atul Garg as Lok Sabha candidate), mentioned Sharma’s allegations of land grab against Garg and his family members.

Garg won the seat with 8.54 lakh votes while Sharma was the runner-up with 5.17 lakh votes.

Almost six months later, Garg filed a defamation complaint against Sharma and Khan on October 6. An FIR was registered the same day under IPC Sections 500 (defamation), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) as well as relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.

When contacted, Garg said he did not read the report in full, but the headline had labelled him as “land mafia”. “The report tried to harm my public image and reputation,” he said.

“Dolly Sharma, during her press conference on April 12, said that I have grabbed 31,000 square metres of government land and developed a township on it; this was widely published in Imran Khan’s newspaper as part of a well-planned conspiracy,” he said in the FIR.

The report was written by Subhash Chandra, a reporter with the newspaper. Speaking to The Indian Express, Chandra said: “There was no addition to whatever she (Sharma) said.”

Sharma could not be reached for comment.

Uttar Pradesh Congress general secretary Bijendra Yadav said what Sharma said was her “personal opinion”. “But by arresting Imran Khan, the BJP is trying to target sections of the media that have remained truthful and are working against the hatred spread by the BJP. Khan is a very senior journalist and knows his job well, he has been arrested because he is a Muslim,” alleged Yadav.