Kerala High Court quashes defamation proceedings against news channel

The Kerala High Court recently set aside the criminal proceedings against Asianet News, its bureau chief, and its editor for airing a press conference that allegedly contained defamatory statements.Justice C.S. Dias held that continuing to prosecute the petitioners would be equivalent to attaching liability on them for a crime they had not committed. The court noted that the mere act of telecasting a press conference, without anything more, would not automatically attract criminal liability for defamation. The defamation complaint was made by George Thomas of Ernakulam against the statements made at a press conference by one Anitha Guha Brown, who had previously worked with Mr. Thomas. Ms. Brown had stated in her press conference, which was aired by Asianet among other channels, that Mr. T