Delhi HC Directs Editor-in-Chief Of ‘4 PM Evening Newspaper’ To Remove Defamatory Tweets Made About ‘The New Indian’ & Its Editor-In-Chief

The Court noted that the tweets against Rohan Dua, Editor-in-Chief and The New Indian suggested that they are biased towards the ruling establishment. 

The Court was hearing an Original suit seeking permanent and mandatory injunctions and damages against the Editor-in-Chief of ‘4 PM Evening Newspaper’ and others for defamatory posts made about the digital news media ‘The New Indian’, and its Editor-In-Chief on the microblogging platform ‘X’.

The bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan observed, “an ad-interim injunction is passed against the defendant nos. 1 to 3…Defendant nos. 1 to 3 are also directed to delete /remove all the defamatory links/tweets as mentioned…”

Advocate Raghav Awasthi appeared for the Plaintiff.

Brief Facts-

It is the case of the Plaintiff that during the general elections 2024, plaintiff no. 2 Rohan Dua, Editor in Chief of The New Indian had interviewed PM Narendra Modi and later posted on ‘X’ about the publically available views for the top 10 YouTube channels during the general election for the audience to draw up conclusions on what is trending to which the defendant replied in an attacking manner hence, the plaintiff found the reply as highly defamatory in as much as the same insinuates that the plaintiffs are beholden to the ruling establishment.

The Court was prima facie of the view that the said posts insinuate that Rohan Dua is partial and biased towards the ruling government which has the potential of undermining his credibility as a journalist.

The Court observed, “It cannot be disputed that when it is alleged on a social media platform like ‘X’ that a journalist favours one party over others, especially when that journalist is followed by thousands of people, such statements/allegations surely compromise his integrity as a professional journalist.”

The Court further said, “by remaining unbiased, journalists uphold their professional ethics and responsibility to provide fair and balanced coverage. Impartial journalism also fosters trust amongst viewers and readers.”

The Court said that the posts create doubt on the integrity of Rohan Dua as a journalist for which there does not appear to be any tangible material.

The Court relied on the decision of the Delhi High Court in Hanuman Beniwal and Others vs. Vinay Mishra and Others and quoted, “It has been well recognized that in case of libel and slander, interim injunction may be granted in case (i) the statement is unarguably defamatory; (ii) there are no grounds for concluding that the statement may be true; (iii) there is no other defence which might succeed; and (iv) there is evidence of an intention to repeat or publish the defamatory statement.”

Accordingly, the Court restrained the Editor-in-Chief of ‘4 PM Evening Newspaper from posting any defamatory material of the nature of the said posts against the plaintiffs or any material which tends to bring disrepute and tarnish the goodwill and reputation of plaintiffs either on ‘X’ handle or any other media platform.

The Court listed the matter for further hearing on October 29, 2024.

Cause Title: Rajatarangini India Media Pvt. Ltd. v. Sanjay Sharma (Neutral Citation: 2024:DHC:5534)

Appearance:

Adv. Raghav Awasthi and Adv. Mukesh Sharma

Click here to read/download Judgment