Congressional Senior Leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday offered an apology to Vivek Doval, son of national security adviser Ajit Doval, before a Delhi court in connection with a criminal defamation case in January last year. Vivek Doval had filed a defamation case against Ramesh and Caravan Magazine for their alleged defamatory statements and articles against him. You have accepted Ramesh’s apology.
Vivek Doval had brought the defamation case against Ramesh, as well as The Caravan and journalist Kaushal Shroff, after The D Companies article was published in the magazine. The court had learned of Doval’s criminal defamation complaint in January 2019 and Ramesh was released on bail in May 2019. The defamation proceedings against The Caravan and Shroff will continue.
Ramesh said while offering the apology that his comments were based on a news article and said that “perhaps some independent verification could have been in order.” The matter was heard by Deputy Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sachin Gupta on Saturday.
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The congressional leader had made, in a press conference on January 17, 2019, certain statements against Vivek Doval, his family and his business company GNA Asia Fund. “I understand that these statements have deeply hurt you. I want to clarify that these statements or accusations were made by drawing conclusions from an article that was published the day before in Caravan magazine. As the case progressed, I realized that some independent verification might be necessary. However, the general election was closed and the questions posed in the article seemed appropriate to be highlighted in public. In hindsight, I may have exceeded myself by making certain advances against you and your family, ”Ramesh said in his letter to Vivek.
“Therefore, I would like to offer my apologies to you and your family for any damage caused by the statements. I would also ask the INC to remove the press conference from the press releases available on its website, ”he added.
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