I wrote the last post in anger. Then I started wondering what possible recourse a blogger might have against legal threats from a media biggie like NDTV.
In popped a comment from Mr Naavi. I recognised him as a cyberlaw person (of naavi.org) who was involved in a blogging related case in Chennai a few years ago. I mailed him, asking him what he thought the blogger in this case might have done. He replied saying that Mr Kunte “could have remained silent until the next action.” Here’s an excerpt from his email.
He could have in the meantime shared a copy of the notice in the blog and sought views.
On the other hand he could have also replied back refusing any attempt to defame without apologizing.
Probably no further action would have been taken up by Burkha.
In the worst instance, a case would have been filed and Mr Kunte might have had to find a lawyer and reply to the notice as well as follow up. It is unlikely that the Court would have given any credence to Ms Burkha’s notice.
All this, of course, assuming Mr Kunte received a notice from NDTV lawyers. He may simply have had a change of mind since he made the blog post. Or he might have faced pressure from quarters other than the NDTV camp.
Mr Naavi shares more of his views on the matter here and suggests that the Press Council of India step in.
Good groundwork Vimoh
Very useful stuff for Bloggers.
Prakash
A simple strategy would be to blog about the notices and spread it over the internet to garner support as many popular bloggers did. It would force bullies like Ms. Dutta to retreat.
Proving a defamation case is pretty hard in India anyway.