‘Times Now, will you issue public apology now’, ask Twitterati after Sarvjeet Singh is acquitted by court

A Delhi court has acquitted Sarvjeet Singh, accused of passing obscene remarks at Jasleen Kaur, a former Delhi University student and intimidating her in 2015, saying her testimony was not trustworthy as she had made material improvements in her statement.

Sarvjeet Singh was put on media trial and was labelled an “eve teaser” and called “Delhi ka darinda” by media channels after Jasleen Kaur accused him of improper behaviour

On Friday, October 25, Metropolitan Magistrate Sonam Gupta acquitted Sarvjeet Singh of all the charges levelled against him by the woman.

"Accused Sarvjeet Singh is acquitted of the offence under section 354A (making sexually coloured remarks), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code," the court said in a recent order.

"It is pertinent to mention that there are various contradictions and improvements in the version of the complainant... The complainant has made material improvements in her statements. In view of the same, the testimony of the complainant is not trustworthy and casts a serious doubt on the case of the prosecution," the court said.

According to the prosecution, on August 23, 2015, the accused had come on a bike from the wrong side at a traffic signal and was about to hit the woman who was a student then.

Saving herself, when she confronted Singh, he allegedly abused her and criminally intimidated her when he saw she was clicking his picture, the complaint claimed.

Singh, represented by advocate Amish Aggarwala, had denied the allegations and claimed trial.

Also, according to a report in ThePrint in September 2018, arguments in the case couldn’t begin even after 3 years because complainant Kaur did not attend even a single hearing in the matter. She made her appearance only in December 2018 and defended her absence in the past 14 hearings.

A former Times Now employee, who had reported the alleged molestation, had apologised to Sarvjeet Singh, stating he was “ashamed”.

Earlier, Sarvjeet had said that he had no complaint with the journalist but wanted the channel to apologise. “They called me a national pervert, Delhi ka darinda (Delhi’s demon) and what not. That was not the employee’s fault but an editorial call.”

“Mr Arnab should apologise. He called me a pervert in front of the world but now the court has acquitted me. He crushed my image, so he should now restore it,” Singh said.

Sarvjeet also wrote on Facebook: “Agar duniya aap news channels ko dekhti hai to wo us news par belive kar lete hai…it is a req ki pehle sach pata kare..fir duniya ko dikhaye.. sirf TRP he sab kuch nahi hoti. (People believe what news channels show. So, its a request that channels should verify facts before putting out a story; TRP is not everything),” he wrote.

Twitter also asked Times Now and Arnab Goswami to issue a apology to Sarvjeet Singh