On July 27, Sudhir Chaudhary’s primetime DD News show ‘Decode’ identified UPSC aspirant and student activist Vijay Sherawat as the man who allegedly said Parliament should be “uprooted” and India should be turned into Nepal.
There was one problem, Sherawat says: he wasn’t the man in the video.
According to his case before the Delhi High Court, the remarks were made by someone else entirely. Sherawat alleges that the ‘Decode’ broadcast nevertheless used his image while attributing those remarks to him, without verifying the footage or giving him a chance to respond. He has sought Rs 5 crore in damages from Chaudhary and DD News, along with an injunction against further publication and circulation of the broadcast. The court has issued notice to Chaudhary, DD News and other defendants, and the matter is listed for September 22.
For Sherawat, though, the fallout went far beyond a single episode of ‘Decode’.
“I am totally destroyed,” he tells Newslaundry. He says the clip spread rapidly across social media after it aired, and the threats followed soon after. “One statement by an anchor declared me an anti-national before the whole world.”
The case has also cost him time he can’t get back, he says – instead of preparing for the UPSC civil services exam, he has spent months shuttling between lawyers and court hearings.
For Sherawat, this isn’t only about clearing his name. He says he wants the case to set a precedent for accountability in journalism.
Watch the full interview with Vijay Sherawat.
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