New Delhi: Two days after Uma Khurana filed a defamation case against Live India channel, its CEO and a reporter for a sting operation which purportedly showed her running a prostitution racket, a court here today admitted her complaint after considering her petition.

After hearing a brief argument from Amit Kumar, Khurana's counsel, Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Sanjay Jindal posted the matter, for recording of statements of the victim, on December 3.

The court said, "You (Khurana) and your witnesses, if any, first record your statements on December 3 and then I will decide the case depending upon it."

Kumar argued before the court that Prakash Singh, a reporter of the channel shot the fake sting operation.

At the behest of Live India's CEO Sudhir Chaudhury, he had come with his OB (outside broadcast) van and telecast the sting on his news channel when she was teaching in her class room, he argued, adding thus there was a "criminality factor" involved in it.

Chaudhury, who is responsible for day-to-day affairs of the channel, had aired the fake sting operation on August 30, which enraged residents of Darya Ganj area, where her school was located, Kumar submitted.

The complaint filed by Khurana said she was subjected to varying kinds of mental agony and humiliation and earned a bad name in society. The accused have cast aspersions and reckless insinuations with the sole purpose of harming her reputation. 

On December 3, after examining the recording of statements of Khurana, if the court feels that there is "sufficient ground" to summon Live India channel, its CEO Sudhir Chaudhury and its reporter Singh, then it may do so, Kumar told PTI.

The trial court on November 1 has discharged her from the case after Delhi Police virtually gave her a clean chit.

Immediately after the sting operation which was aired on August 30, Khurana was suspended first and then terminated from service and has not been reinstated so far.

The fake TV sting operation, which allegedly projected that Khurana might be involved in a sex racket involving school girls, had sparked violent protests in the walled city area. Prakash was arrested on September 8 after the police found that the girl, who appeared in the sting operation
making allegations against Khurana, was not a student but an aspiring journalist.

Source : PTI