Journalist Hardeep Singh will go to India to recoup libel case costs

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British freelance journalist Hardeep Singh says he will go to India in an attempt to claim back some of the near £100,000 in legal costs as a result of fighting a libel case which was thrown out by the High Court.

Singh must now go through the Indian courts as the man who sued him for libel - who it is understood has never been to the UK and does not speak English - has no UK assets.

Speaking to

Journalism.co.uk Singh said he expects the case to continue for more than 10 years.

"It's from one battle to another. We've had estimates from an Indian law firm that if we are ever to be successful it will probably take six or seven years of my life to recoup any costs, in addition to another £20,000 legal costs. The nightmare is not over."

Hardeep Singh,

who is now 33 and a freelance journalist based in Berkshire, has spent four years fighting a libel claim from

His Holiness Baba Jeet Singh Ji Maharaj

who lives in India.

In May 2010 the case was thrown out of the High Court

. In October the claimant

was allowed to appeal in part.

Last month lawyers for Singh applied for an order for security for the costs of the appeal.

On Tuesday the appeal was dismissed when

His Holiness Baba Jeet Singh Ji Maharaj

failed to pay the £250,000.

The case began in 2007 when he wrote a comment piece for the UK-published Sikh Times. The Sikh Times withdrew the article and apologised to the claimant. The comment piece has now cost Singh tens of thousands of pounds. Asked the exact amount he said: "It's teetering towards a six-figure sum and it means significant debts." He said he did not regret writing the original article. "I believed in what I wrote. But would I recommend someone else to fight libel? The answer would probably be no, don't do it because of the costs and the devastating effect it has on your life". "It's extremely difficult to have gone through what I've been through and what Simon Singh has been through and what [British cardiologist Dr] Peter Wilmshurst is currently going through," he added.

The case has been dubbed Singh II after the previous libel case against of Guardian journalist Simon Singh.

Singh

congratulated the Libel Reform Campaign for putting pressure on the government to reform libel laws and said it had been "helpful and supportive" in his case. Disclaimer: [Journalism.co.uk backs Libel Reform Campaign](http://blogs.journalism.co.uk/editors/2010/04/01/journalism-co-uk-backs-libel-reform-campaign/).