ISLAMABAD: Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Raja Asif Mehmood imposed a Rs500,000 fine on a journalist and publisher of an English daily for ‘defaming’ a doctor.

The story against Dr Farrukh Kamal, the medico-legal officer of Pims, was published in the newspaper in July 2013.

Dr Kamal was seeking Rs20 million damages from Ahmed Noorani for writing against his degree.

In the story, the journalist alleged that Dr Kamal obtained a master’s degree in public health from Sarhad University’s campus in Islamabad which was not recognised by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC). But the doctor claimed that university was recognised.

Before the court, the journalist stated that Dr Kamal got admission to the university in 2008 and completed the MPH in 2010 whereas the PMDC recognised the university in 2012.

He said Dr Kamal filed a petition with the Islamabad High Court and under the court direction the PMDC accepted his degree.

Though the journalist claimed that the news was published in good faith, ADSJ Mehmood observed that by using the words fake and bogus, the journalist had defamed the doctor.

He partially accepted the defamation suit and held that Dr Kamal was “entitled to Rs500,000 as tentative damages under thumb rule for his defamation.”

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2017