A Delhi court has directed Hindustan Times and its former journalist Neelesh Misra to pay ₹40 lakh in damages to businessman Arun Kumar Gupta for a 2007 news report that falsely implied he had been "sacked" from a company over "alleged financial irregularities'.

Delivering the judgment, District Judge Prabh Deep Kaur held that while Misra may have reported the matter carelessly, the newspaper bore a greater burden of responsibility. Accordingly, HT Media was ordered to pay three-fourths of the compensation, while Misra was held liable for the remaining one-fourth.

The Court also directed Hindustan Times to publish an apology within 60 days and permanently restrained the publication from defaming Gupta in future.

Gupta, founder of Darts IT Network, had served as Director at Integrix until July 2005, after which he launched his own venture. In 2006, Integrix filed two suits against him concerning a defamatory email and hacking of its website. The Delhi High Court later traced the related IP address to Gupta.

In January 2007, Misra authored a report published by Hindustan Times that, without naming Gupta, referred to someone being "sacked for financial irregularities." Gupta sued HT Media, Misra, Integrix, its directors, and its lawyer for defamation, but later settled with all parties except the media house and the journalist.

In their defence, Hindustan Times and Misra claimed the story was based on credible sources and documents, including legal suits filed by Integrix, and that it was written in public interest, focusing on the legal status of emails rather than Gupta specifically.

Court’s Findings

The Court rejected their defences and found:

• No record or evidence existed to suggest Gupta was ever sacked for financial irregularities.

• Integrix’s own court filings had expressly stated that Gupta had resigned, and made no allegations of financial misconduct.

• The defendants failed to disclose their sources or file any documents supporting the allegation in the article.

• Though Gupta was not named, witnesses testified that they could easily identify him as the subject of the article due to prior knowledge of his legal disputes with Integrix.

The Court ruled that this co-relation caused serious reputational harm, amounting to defamation, and rejected the defence of fair comment, stating:

“Reporting in the article that plaintiff was sacked for alleged financial irregularities without any substance or material to give that opinion is equivalent to character assassination.”

While both defendants were held liable, the Court distinguished their levels of responsibility:

“An institution is always bigger than an individual… A big institution like Hindustan Times is supposed to have a check upon the reports… The institution has higher accountability.”

The Court concluded:

“Plaintiff is entitled for damages of Rs. 40 lakhs. Defendant No. 1 [HT Media] will pay 3/4th amount and Defendant No. 7 [Misra] will pay 1/4th amount of compensation.”

Arun Kumar Gupta appeared in person.
Advocates Sanjeev Behl, Madhur Dhingra, and Kunal Rai represented HT Media and Neelesh Misra.