Delhi High Court directs Congress' Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera, Netta D'Souza to remove social media posts against Smriti Irani, daughter

The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D'Souza to remove defamatory material on social media against Union Minister Smriti Irani and her daughter in relation to the recent controversy surrounding the latter's restaurant and bar in Goa. .The Court also issued summons to Ramesh, Khera and D'Souza on a defamation suit by minister Smriti Irani against the allegations made on social media and other platforms by the respondents.Single-judge Justice Mini Pushkarna said that she was of the prima facie view that the allegations were made without verifying actual facts and grave injury has been caused to Irani because of the same. "I am of the prima facie view that slanderous allegations were made against the plaintiff without verifying actual facts. Grave injury has been caused to the reputation of the plaintiff in view of the tweets and retweets carried out due to the press conference of the defendants. Plaintiff has made out prima facie case and balance of convenience lies in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants," the Court said.The Court, therefore, granted an interim injunction directing defendants to delete and remove the allegations made during the press conference from all social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and twitter."They are also directed to remove the post, videos, tweets, retweets, morphed pictures of plaintiff and her daughter along with the allegations and stop their recirculation," the order added. If the defendants fail to comply with the directions within 24 hours of this order, defendants 4-6 (social media platforms) should take down the material, the Court made it clear..The Congress leaders had held a press conference on July 23 and made allegations against Irani's daughter, Zoish Irani in relation to a restaurant run by her in Goa. As per the allegations, the restaurant and bar had renewed its liquor license in the name of a deceased person.Irani has argued that the allegations are false and defamatory and are continuously being watched and commented by people on public platforms. "That the continuous telecast/viewership of said allegations on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, has caused grave prejudice to the applicant and same is nothing less than a deliberate smear campaign based on personal and political vendetta," the suit said. Irani sought an ex-parte interim injunction against these leaders and a direction to the social media companies to take down or remove the allegedly defamatory allegations as well as the video of the press conference. .Irani was represented through Senior Advocates Neeraj Kishan Kaul, Rajiv Nayar and Pinky Anand and DSK Legal's partners Kirat Singh Nagra, Kartik Yadav and Pranav Vyas, Principal Associate, Manhar Saini and Associates Sumedha Chadha and Hardik Jain.