TRP fraud: Mumbai civil court refuses to restrain Republic TV from using ‘Hansa report’
The Mumbai civil court on Wednesday refused to restrain Republic TV and its anchor Arnab Goswami from using internal documents of Hansa Research Group Private Limited, referred to as ‘Hansa report’, in connection with TRP fraud.
Hansa Research Group had last week filed a suit against the channel and Goswami for use of internal documents and publishing it on the channel to prove the its innocence in the TRP scam, and urged the court to restrain Republic TV from using the documents further.
In the suit, Hansa claimed that after the Mumbai police commissioner’s announcement about the TRP scam, the channel used parts of the reports to prove their innocence, and said that the documents referred by the channel were internal documents.
It is claimed that the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) and Hansa Research Group had prepared a draft detailing the facts of the TRP case to file a formal complaint with the Mumbai Police. The draft was shared only with BARC officials as it was an internal communication between BARC and Hansa Research.
Hansa Research Group claimed that a draft prepared by its employees, which was yet to be approved by authorised officials, could have been accessed by the channel which, in turn, used it to prove their innocence without Hansa’s consent.
The group further claimed that the paper shown by the channel as ‘Hansa report’ was an internal communication and was not for public consumption. In view of this, the group claimed that the use of the document and referring it to as ‘Hansa report’ is causing tremendous damage to its reputation, and sought that the channel be restrained from using it further.