Mathrubhumi newspaper extends apology to RSS for pulishing defamatory content after losing legal battle in SC

New Delhi, Oct 8: In a significant development, a reputed Malayalam magazine Mathrubhumi weekly has apologized to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for publishing derogatory and misleading content in the year 2011.

 

 

This development came after the Mathrubhumi lost the legal battle in Supreme Court. The apology has been carried in Mathrubhumi weekly in its issue dated October 9, 2022. The Malayalam News agency was for the last 11 years fighting a legal battle against a defamation suit filed by RSS.

 

 

An article with the cover page title “Bheekarathude Virus” (Virus of Terrorism) was published in its weekly. It was part of a series of five articles written and published from February 27, 2011, to March 2011, titled “Will RSS Terrorism Swallow India ?” The article was authored by Badri Reyna.

 

The defamation case filed by then-RSS Prath Karyavah P Gopalankutty Master was heard in the Ernakulam Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. On March 19, 2013, Magistrate Court Adv KK Baralaram issued a legal notice to Mathrubhumi, pointing out that its report was factually incorrect.

 

It claimed that the Mathrubhumi article was based on a statement submitted before the Panchkula Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Haryana by RSS activist Swami Aseemanand, who was allegedly pressured by the erstwhile UPA government to deliver false testimony in order to defame the RSS.

 

The notice further read that Swami Aseemanand was acquitted by the court in 2019 after it was discovered that the statement he was forced to sign was false.