New Delhi: In a fresh development, the Delhi High Court ordered Congress leaders Ragini Nayak, Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and social media platforms to remove the tweets/ videos that accused journalist Rajat Sharma of using abusive language, Asian News International reported.
As per the social media posts, Sharma used objectionable language during a live show on the day of Lok Sabha election results, June 4.
The court issued the direction after Sharma moved a defamation case in the court against Congress leaders on Saturday and demanded the immediate removal of posts on X and YouTube.
A June 14 order by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna read, "The irreparable loss and injury would be caused to the plaintiff/ Rajat Sharma if the videos and Tweets, etc as mentioned above, are 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 (Congress Leaders and Social Media platforms ) if the material is restrained from remaining in the public domain till the suit is adjudicated on merits, while these tweets have the potential of bringing disrepute to the Plaintiff in future with practically no reparation to the damage to his reputation".
"The plaintiff may have quantified damages for defamation and to his reputation but if such videos are permitted to remain in public, the harm already caused would get perpetuated in future. Therefore, the irreparable loss would be caused to the applicant/plaintiff in case the injunction as sought by the applicant/plaintiff is not granted," the court order read.
The court further directed, "the X posts/Tweets which have not been removed, be removed within seven days by the defendants in terms of the Intermediary Guidelines. It is further directed that the videos which are in the public domain be made private by Google India Pvt Ltd and not to be put in the public domain, without the Orders of this Court."