[BREAKING] Bengaluru court directs social media to take down photo with false claim against Justices Surya Kant, JB Pardiwala

In a significant development, a Bengaluru court on Tuesday passed a John Doe order directing social media platforms to take down a photograph which was widely circulated with the claim that two of the persons therein are Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala of the Supreme Court..The Court ordered Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and WhatsApp to take down all libellous and defamatory content against Dipali Sikand, the owner of club MindEscapes, where the photo was clicked with some guests.It also restrained the defendants from publishing such libellous and defamatory content against the plaintiff, Sikand..The photograph in question was shot at MindEscapes, a club owned by Sikand situated in Tamil Nadu. At this venue, journalist and member of the Kasturi family that controls the Hindu Group of publications N Ram and his wife Mariam hosted a lunch for the following guests on July 1 this year:- Dr. Palanivel Thiagarajan, current Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu; - CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat;- CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat;- NDTV founder Prannoy Roy; and- NDTV founder Radhika Roy.The group picture was shared by Sikand on her private Facebook and Linkedin pages..In the wake of the statements made by Justices Kant and Pardiwala of the Supreme Court in the Nupur Sharma case, several individuals circulated the photograph wrongly identifying the guests as the said judges and made allegations against them of dining with “naxal groups” and “communists” etc..Sikand then approached the Court contending that such false and defamatory content has violated her rights as well as those of her guests, and that they have suffered irreparable injury to their reputation and goodwill."Shockingly, the posts on social media and WhatsApp claimed that two guests in the picture were Hon’ble Mr. Justice Surya Kant and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Pardiwala, who were hearing the Nupur Sharma petition. Similar posts are being made and forwarded by several individuals on WhatsApp groups as well," the suit said.Some responsible websites published a clarificatory story on the photograph and tried to point out that the individuals in the photograph are not the two judges of the Supreme Court, the suit stated. However, the fake and fallacious information has already spread far and wide, and these attempts to clarify the truth have not ebbed the flow, it was submitted."Several individuals are still posting about the photograph with false captions and defamatory statements about the plaintiff and its guests," Sikand stated in the suit..On these grounds, the suit sought the passing of a John Doe order (an order seeking injunction against unknown individuals), It also specifically arraigned three individuals who shared the photograph - Jagadeesh Laxman Singh, Siddharth Dey and Sonalika Kumar - as defendants..Sikand was represented by a team from Spectrum Legal led by Partner Chintan Chinnappa, who was assisted by Vishaka Nikkam, Basil Shibu and Siddharth Shandilya.