"It Would Cause Harm To His Reputation As A Respectable Journalist": Delhi HC Orders Removal Of X Posts By Congress Leaders Against Rajat Sharma

In a defamation case involving journalist Rajat Sharma and the Congress party leaders Ragini Nayak, Jairam Ramesh, and Pawan Khera, the Delhi High Court on June 14 directed the removal of social media posts and videos alleging Sharma's misconduct.

In an ex parte order issued by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna on Friday, the Court found that the Congress leaders had sensationalized and misrepresented an incident involving Sharma and Nayak. The Court emphasized that allowing the contested content to remain on public platforms posed a serious threat to Sharma's reputation, potentially leading to irreparable harm.

The Bench remarked, "It cannot be denied that the citizens have a right to freedom of Speech and expression but there was also a corresponding duty to remain truthful to the incident."

"The X posts berating the plaintiff are nothing but an oversensationalization and depiction of facts which are patently false. Prima facie dissemination of such X Posts has not only caused harm to the reputation of the plaintiff, as has been asserted by him, but also has the potential of persistent threat of being used against the plaintiff at any time in future. Such being the imminent threat of misuse of the videos in future, which are prima facie depicting plaintiff in a light which may not be based on true facts, is liable to be restrained from being kept in the public domain till the Suit is finally decided," the Court said.

The Single-Judge Bench clarified that while the order required the removal of the contentious posts and making certain videos private, it did not infringe on the defendants' freedom of speech. The Court underscored the potential harm from these posts remaining public, outweighing any inconvenience to the defendants from their removal.

"From the aforesaid discussion, it is directed that the X Posts/Tweets (URLs annexed as ‘Annexure-1’) which have not been removed, be removed within seven days by defendants in terms of the Intermediary Guidelines. It is further directed that the videos which are in the public domain be made private by defendant No.2 and not to be put in the public domain, without the Orders of this Court," the Bench ordered.

Rajat Sharma had filed a defamation suit seeking Rs. 100 crore in damages against Nayak, Khera, and Ramesh. The controversy stemmed from a video clip circulated on social media alleging Sharma used abusive language towards Nayak during a television broadcast on India TV. Following this, Nayak filed a police complaint against Sharma, while he, in turn, accused the Congress party's media cell of spreading false accusations.

The Bench opined, "The irreparable loss and injury would be caused to the plaintiff for if the videos and Tweets, etc as mentioned above, is allowed to be in the public domain, it would continue to cause harm to his reputation as a respectable Journalist which would cause irreparable harm to the plaintiff. No harm would be caused to the defendants if the material is restrained from remaining in public domain till the suit is adjudicated on merits, while these tweets have a potential of bringing disrepute to the Plaintiff in future with practically no reparation to the damage to his reputation."

The Court further stated that the balance of convenience also lies in favour of the plaintiff for the simple reason that by making these videos private or injuncting them from being available on the public platforms, would not, in any way, infringe on the rights of the defendants of freedom of speech and expression which they can, in any case, exercise within the defined parameters.

"However, the inconvenience that would result from these videos and X posts/Tweets etc., continuing to remain in public domain, has the potential to cause an inconvenience which may not be possible to be reparated or compensated by damages or otherwise, in future," the Court said. Accordingly, the Court allowed the application.

Cause Title: Rajat Sharma v X Corp (Formerly Twitter) & Ors [Neutral Citation: 2024: DHC: 4757]

Appearance:-

Plaintiff: Senior Advocate Maninder Singh, Advocates Sandeep Chatterjee, Rohan Swarup, Kunal Vats, Sanyam Suri, Tanya Arora

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