Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has slapped a Rs 500-crore defamation lawsuit against Times Now editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami, accusing the latter of running a “hate campaign” and “media trial” against him.
Firstpost reported:
The English-speaking preacher, currently abroad, is facing investigations by various agencies for allegedly inspiring terrorists affiliated to the Islamic State to conduct attacks including the recent Dhaka attacks. Ever since the accusations were made against him, Naik has not returned to India and has addressed the Indian media only through video appearances..this is the first time Naik is slapping a legal notice against any media company in connection with the recent allegations.
In the notice, Naik’s lawyer Mubin Solkar, spells out the various statements made by Goswami during his multiple Newshour debates and goes on to add that "besides making the aforesaid false, defamatory and damaging insinuations against my client, you have deliberately and with malicious intention of defaming my client and creating enmity and hatred between religious communities, quoted and/ shown only a part of my client’s speeches, that to totally out of context and also some of which were picked up from doctored speeches of my client which are available on You Tube/Internet."
He goes on to add:
My client states that without verifying facts and without having any positive and/or cogent evidence in support, you have recklessly and callously, with deliberate and malicious intention made and published on the television the aforesaid false, defamatory and damaging remarksagainst my client, which have severely harmed my client’s impeccable reputation
The full copy of the notice can be found here.
Naik has also sought an unconditional apology from Arnab and asked that the channel take back the statements made against him.