Title: Five Police Cases Filed Against DD News Anchor and Others for Allegedly Defaming Hindi News Channel
In a series of developments, the Uttar Pradesh police have registered five First Information Reports (FIRs) against DD News anchor Askok Shrivastav, journalist Sudhir Pandey, and one Nitin Shukla over allegations of defaming the Hindi news channel Bharat Samachar on social media platform X.
The complaints were filed in Agra, Bulandshahr, Buduan, Kushinagar, and Bareilly, with staff members of Bharat Samachar claiming that the three individuals had tarnished the channel’s image by sharing misleading and objectionable posts from their X handles. The claims made in these posts were deemed baseless, and the complainants have requested the police to take appropriate action.
The FIRs were lodged a day after journalist Sudhir Pandey posted a video on X accusing a TV channel journalist named “Vasindra Mishra,” who allegedly runs the channel “Bharat Samachar,” of illegally occupying 4.5 acres of government land under the previous Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh. The staff members at Bharat Samachar have stated that no one named Vasindra Mishra has ever worked or been associated with their channel.
Ashok Shrivastav, Sudhir Pandey, and Nitin Shukla have been charged with defamation under section 356 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita in two FIRs and cheating under section 318 (4) in one FIR. All five FIRs invoke section 66 of the Information Technology Act.
Ashok Shrivastav has been with DD News for over a decade, while Sudhir Pandey runs a YouTube channel, and so does Nitin Shukla. A deleted tweet by Shrivastav appears to have quote-tweeted a post by Nitin Shukla which shared Pandey’s video. Shortly after multiple FIRs were registered against him and others on April 29 in various cities across Uttar Pradesh, Shrivastav deleted his post. In a subsequent post, he explained that he had done so after speaking to Pandey, who admitted to mentioning the incorrect name of a channel in his report.
In his statement, Shrivastav clarified that he had quote-tweeted and made further comments on Pandey’s video and also tagged the UP government, suggesting that this matter should be investigated. He added that he has always supported transparency among journalists and channel owners, and his quote tweet was made with a similar intention.
