Court rejects RajjeTV’s lawsuit against the State

Civil Court has rejected the lawsuit filed by RajjeTV against the State for MVR 11.65 million in damages from the arson attack on the previous building the station was run from, in the early hours of October 8, 2013.

Registrar of Civil Court informed RajjeTV that the court had already established it does not have the jurisdiction to hear such lawsuits against the Maldives Police Service. The Registrar decided the court cannot accept the lawsuit, given its nature, and given the decision had not been overruled by a higher court.

RajjeTV’s attorney, Mohamed Nishan said he will be filing a motion with the Chief Judge of Civil Court asking him to reconsider the Registrar’s decision. He said the station will be contesting the decision with the High Court if the Chief Judge decides in favor of the Registrar.

CEO of RajjeTV, Fiyaz Moosa reported to “Sun” in an earlier interview that an audit on the fire shows the station suffered MVR 11.65 million in damages due to the fire.

Fiyaz said that the station received threats prior to the torching, on October 6, which was immediately reported to the authorities. He said the torching took place because the authorities had not provided the necessary protection to the station.

“RajjeTV, too, pays taxes to the State and is a 100 percent Maldivian company. We have, to date, not received a reply to the letter we sent to the President’s Office asking for the government’s assistance to recover from such a huge loss, which came at a time when insurance services were suspended,” said Fiyaz.

The police had arrested a number of suspects in connection with the torching and sent the cases to the Prosecutor General’s Office. However, only one suspect was charged – Mohamed Miadh from H. Gasva in Male’ City. Miadh’s trial is still ongoing.