Point of privilege

Alleged misreporting of the proceedings of the House by a newspaper

Facts of the case and ruling by the Chairman

On the 12th August, 1966, Shri Bhupesh Gupta, a member complained¹ in the House about the reporting of the previous day's proceedings in the House by the Times of India of Delhi, in its issue of that date, under the heading "Sabotage by Reds in Durgapur confirmed". Shri Gupta stated that the headline given by the newspaper, was malicious because neither the Minister nor anybody else in the House had confirmed the allegations of sabotage by Communists. He contended that the newspaper was guilty of deliberately misleading, with malicious intention, the readers against his party and that the matter be referred to the Committee of Privileges.

2. After a brief discussion, the Chairman (Dr. Zakir Hussain) observed inter alia. as follows:-

"Now my view about this matter is that the headline of the Times of India does not conform to the report that the Times of India has given and there was no confirmation of anything that was said from inside. Therefore that headline in my opinion, is not justified. Of course, I do not want to take a serious view of it but I only want to point out to the press that they owe a great responsibility to this House and in giving headlines they should not do anything which can be taken as partisanship or any such thing."

3. After the Chairman's ruling, Shri Gupta withdrew his notice.
 
 

1. R.S. Deb., dt. 12-8-1966.