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BSP begins legal proceedings against Hindi daily

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 9. The Bahujan Samaj Party today initiated legal proceedings against Dainik Jagran, a Hindi daily, for using a derogatory expression about its president, Mayawati. The party demanded a "token compensation of rupees one hundred crores" for the damage caused to its image.

According to its general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP, Satish Misra, the BSP decided to take a series of measures including initiating criminal proceedings, filing a defamation suit and approaching the Press Council Of India.

FIR filed

At a press conference here, Mr. Misra distributed copies of the legal notice served on the proprietors of Dainik Jagran. The party has already filed a FIR against the paper in Ghaziabad and Lucknow and moved the Press Council of India to ban the paper and take back its licence.

In the legal notice, the BSP said that not only had the paper caused defamation but it had also committed an offence under the provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989, the Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, the Indian Penal Code, and Section 500 of the IPC. Mr. Misra pointed out that the Press Council Act made it clear that headlines should not be provocative or sensational and had advised newspapers not to use derogatory casteist remarks.

Condemning the paper for its "derogatory casteist" references to Ms. Mayawati in a headline in the edition dated September 6, Mr. Mishra charged that Dainik Jagran had "intentionally" published the article with a view to "defame and malign" the image of the BSP and its president.

In the legal notice, the BSP pointed out that the damage caused by the paper "is so enormous that no amount of compensation in money would be adequate relief." It, however, said that if the paper paid a "nominal damage of rupees one hundred crores, the purpose shall stand served."

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