Litany Of Misrepresentations And Convoluted Insinuations Made Recklessly Without Any Regard For Truth: Delhi HC On The Wire's Article Against Delhi Chief Secretary
The Delhi High Court today directed news portal The Wire to take down an alleged defamatory article casting aspersions on Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar in relation to the Bamnoli land acquisition matter.
"It is thus, prima facie, evident that the impugned article is a litany of misrepresentations and convoluted insinuations made in a reckless manner, without any regard for the truth, and with a view to inflict damage on the reputation of the plaintiff", the Court held.
In an interim order, Justice Sachin Datta granted ad-interim injunction in favour of the chief secretary and also directed the news portal and its reporter concerned to take down the article and the offending tweets.
"...the defendant nos. 1 & 2 are directed to remove/take down the impugned article," the Court ordered. The Court also ordered, "the defendant nos. 1 and 2 are further directed to not post, circulate or publish any similar defamatory content against the plaintiff as set out in the impugned article/publication dated 09.11.2023".
Senior Advocates Maninder Singh and Rajshekhar Rao appeared for the plaintiff while Advocate Sarim Naved appeared for The Wire.
In its Order, the High Court also observed that "Undoubtedly, while freedom of speech and expression is sacrosanct, the reputation of a person earned over several decades, cannot be sacrificed at the altar of such freedom, when the impugned publication, ex-facie, contains unsubstantiated allegations and defamatory imputations, regardless of the truth. In the present case, the Court has also taken note of the crescendo of politically motivated tweets/posts/comments, virtually in sync with the publication of the aforesaid article/publication dated 09.11.2023, which further validate the necessity of urgent injunctive order/s".
Yesterday, the high court had reserved its order on the officer's plea seeking interim relief in the defamation suit. The defamation suit was filed in relation to a news article on November 9 which alleged links of the chief secretary's son to the beneficiary's family. The 19-acre land in question was acquired by the National Highways Authority of India in 2018 for the construction of the Dwarka Expressway.
Kumar, in his plea, sought to take down the article as well as a direction to restrain the news portal and the reporter from publishing any further defamatory articles against him.
His counsel had said the article was "pre-planned" in order to "activate" people against him and to "please some people".
The counsel for the news portal had said the intention behind the article, which only raised a few questions, was not to defame Kumar in any manner.
The suit said that a legal notice was also sent by the chief secretary to the portal and the reporter on November 13, claiming that the contents of the article are ex-facie misleading and per se defamatory.
According to reports, the price of the land was increased from Rs 41.52 crore to Rs 353.79 crore in May and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs initiated action against South West Delhi District Magistrate Hemant Kumar for approving the enhanced compensation.
Naresh Kumar v. The Wire & Ors. (CS(OS) 749/2023)
Click here to read/download Judgment
With PTI Inputs
