By IANS
New Delhi : A government schoolteacher, implicated in the fake sting operation aired by Hindi news channel Live India, Monday recorded her statement in the defamation case she filed against the channel.
The teacher, Uma Khurana, through her counsel Amit Kumar Monday recorded the statement in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Jindal. The court has fixed Dec 18 as the next date of hearing in the case.
The petitioner has sought action against the news channel under Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code. If proved, the court can award a maximum prison term of two years or fine, or both, to those found guilty.
Kumar said the fact that the tapes were aired and an outdoor broadcasting van was also stationed outside the school, where the complainant taught, amounted to a conspiracy to lower her reputation in the eyes of the public.
It was not possible for the channel to air the contents and telecast live from a spot without having checked the veracity of the report, she said.
Earlier, at the time of filing the charge sheet, the court had questioned the prosecution on why it had not charged the officials of the channel in the case. The prosecution had then told the court that there was nothing incriminating against the officials.
The TV channel in its “exposé” Aug 30 had purportedly shown Khurana, a 41-year-old mathematics teacher at the Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in central Delhi, as forcing her girl students into prostitution and pornography.
Following the telecast, an angry mob attacked the school, torched several vehicles parked on the road, and manhandled the teacher. She was dismissed from service by the Delhi government Sep 1 and arrested the next day.
However, it was discovered a week later that the operation was a hoax and the “victim” shown in the sting was, in fact, not a student but an aspiring journalist – Rashmi.