Litigation News
Delhi High Court restrains Twitter handle 'TRACTOR 2 TWITER' from publishing defamatory material against Aaj Tak
The Delhi High Court on Monday passed an order directing the removal of certain defamatory content published against Aaj Tak from social media.
Aaj Tak, Farmers Protest
The Delhi High Court on Monday passed an order directing the removal of certain defamatory social media content published by Twitter account 'TRACTOR 2 TWITER' against Hindi news channel, Aaj Tak in relation to its reportage on the Farmers Protest (TV Today Network vs TRACTOR 2 TWITTER & ors).
The Court also restrained 'TRACTOR 2 TWITER', its founder and co-founder from publishing any further defamatory posts against the news channel on Facebook, Telegram and Twitter.
In its interim order, Justice Rekha Palli granted three days time for removal of the content, failing which the social media companies would have to do so themselves.
The social media websites were also directed to disclose the details of the concerned handles with Aajtak through a password protected file.
"That defendants 1-3 (Tractor 2 Twitter and its founders) shall stand restrained from publishing any defamatory or derogatory post/ tweet/ content/ remark through any of their social media platforms or forums or electronic medium.
That defendants are directed to forthwith remove any derogatory tweets within 3 days time, especially those referred to in the plaint. If they fail to do so, then Twitter (respondent number 5) must remove the said content. The social media websites should also disclose the details of the concerned handles with Aajtak through a password protected file within 5 days," the Court ordered.
Advocate Hrishikesh Baruah, arguing on behalf of the Hindi news channel, submitted that three independent handles had jointly unleashed a malicious campaign against Aaj Tak, with a view to defame it.
He further submitted that this was being done by an online community of persons who appear to be interested in the Farmers Protests. The actual contact details of these handles like their names, numbers and email addresses were not privy to him.
According to him, they had used hashtags like 'Deshdrohi Aajtak' and words like 'communal' and 'venomous' to describe the channel on various social media platforms like Telegram, Facebook and Twitter.
Baruah also submitted that these independent handles had used concocted graphics showing an Aajtak news correspondent's hands covered in blood. He also placed the content and relevant links on record and asked for the blockage of the concerned handles.
Justice Palli reckoned that this in itself was defamatory enough.
Recording the grievance raised before it, the Court noted in the order,
"On May 30, 2021, seven posters were published with the defamatory graphic on Telegram. In these posters, Aajtak was referred to as 'anti-farmer.' Further defamatory hashtags were tweeted and retweeted from time to time in derogatory and disparaging language.
The plaintiff's case is that all of these allegations were baseless and highly defamatory in nature and thus these handles must be restrained from tweeting these hashtags or retweeting these tweets."
In view of the submissions, the Court opined that the balance of convenience was in favour of Aaj Tak and an interim order must be passed immediately to prevent irreparable loss to the news channel.
The Court asked Twitter, through its counsel Deepak Gogia, to take down the defamatory content and to share the requisite details like the email ids and phone numbers of the concerned accounts.
However, the Court told Aajtak that it would not allow the blockage of said twitter handles for the time being stating that she wanted to deal with the formal applications first. The Court also refused to pass any John Doe order, opining that the same was not warranted yet.
The Court directed that the plaint be registered as a suit and issued summons. Notice was also issued to Defendants- Twitter, Facebook and Telegram which are intermediaries under the IT Rules, 2021, as well as the digital service provider.
Advocate Hrishikesh Baruah along with advocate Pranav Jain represented the petitioner.
30 days' time was granted to the defendant parties to file their response.
The matter will be heard next on July 24, 2021 before the roster bench.
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