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Journalism of Courage
The Delhi High Court has directed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to record his evidence through video conference on October 31 as a witness in a copyright violation suit.
Justice J R Midha passed the direction on an application moved by Atul Kumar Singh, a former senior Jawaharlal Nehru University scholar-turned-politician, seeking to summon Kumar to examine him as a witness.
In 2010, Singh had moved the high court claiming the book was initially described as “authored” by Nitish Kumar. When Singh complained later, ADRI released a new version of the book, which was shown to have been “endorsed” by the Bihar CM. He accused Gupta of playing a “pivotal role” in transferring the research work in the name of Kumar.
The application had sought that Kumar should appear personally so that he be examined on oath instead of video conferencing. However, Kumar had requested the court that he be examined by video conferencing. “This court is of the view that defendant No.1 (Kumar) be examined as a witness by video conferencing according to Video Conferencing Guidelines issued by the High Court of Delhi,” the judge said.
“The Registrar (IT) is appointed as co-ordinator at the court point and the Registrar (IT), Patna High Court, shall be the coordinator at the remote end. Defendant No.1 will bear the cost for the preparation of certified copies to be sent to the co-ordinator at the remote end to facilitate recording of evidence,” the court said.
Justice Midha further clarified in his two-page order that other witnesses shall also be examined
Kumar’s counsel had opposed summoning of the CM as a witness in the lawsuit.
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