“Sharma was arrested on June 20. Many media outlets like Outlook, The Print, The Wire, etc presented Sharma as a local VHP leader. But Sharma is neither an office-bearer nor an activist of the Vishva Hindu Parishad.”
The Vishva Hindu Parishad on June 27 served legal notices to some media outlets for wrongfully associating its name with Naval Kishore Sharma who was arrested on June 20 in the Alwar lynching case.
The notice reads “it is clear from a perusal of the (article) that someone has misused the name of VHP.”
Rakbar alias Akbar Khan was lynched on July 20, 2018 in Alwar by a mob allegedly led by Sharma.
The Wire, ThePrint, Outlook, The New Indian Express and The Indian Express were served with a legal notice asking them to make the necessary correction.
The VHP has warned about legal action in case an unconditional apology is not published within seven days from the issue of notice.
The Times of India, India Today and The Lallantop had edited the story to remove any news about Sharma’s link with the VHP.
The notice reads the news item was published with the malafide intention of damaging the reputation of the VHP. The article was published “with ulterior and malafide motive to defame” VHP. And it has caused “irreparable and incalculable damage to the reputation and name apart from immense suffering, great humiliation and jolt to its respect and fame across the world”.
The notice further adds the media outlets have “breached the laws under “INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (GUIDELINES FOR INTERMEDIARIES AND DIGITAL MEDIA ETHICS CODE) RULES, 2021”, “MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY NOTIFICATION New Delhi, the 25th February 2021”,and Journalistic Conduct under “Norms of Journalistic Conduct-Press Council of India”.”
The Vishva Hindu Parishad has demanded an unconditional apology from the media outlets.
Sharma has no association with the VHP and independently runs Gau Raksha Cell in Alwar.
The VHP was founded on August 29, 1964, with the objective of “organising and consolidating the Hindu Society” and to “serve and protect the Hindu Dharma”.
The police had already filed the charge sheet against Vijay Kumar, Paramjeet Singh, Dharmendra Yadav and Naresh Sharma in the case.
