Delhi HC directs Twitter to take down Rakesh Simha tweets badmouthing Rajdeep Sardesai and India Today Group [Read Order]

The Delhi High Court on Friday declared the tweets by journalist Rakesh Simha against the India Today Group and its Consulting Editor Rajdeep Sardesai as prima facie defamatory..While issuing summons to Simha in the petition filed by Living Media India Limited (India Today Group), the Court has directed Twitter to take down the tweets in question..The tweets, posted by former India Today Group employee Rakesh Krishnan Simha, among other allegations, supposedly contain a cuss word while accusing Sardesai of having been paid for his interview with actor Rhea Chakraborty..In proceedings before the Delhi High Court, the tweets were challenged as being defamatory and patently false. The order passed by a Bench of Justice Rajiv Shakdher states:."In any event, the usage of cuss words against an employee of the plaintiffs, not only impacts the reputation of the concerned individual and lowers his image in the eyes of his friends, acquaintances, peers and associates but also impinges upon the business interests of the plaintiffs. In my view, opinion, if any, held by defendant no. 1 could have been expressed even while maintaining civility. Since social media platforms are accessed by a large number of persons of various ages, it is expected of users to display sobriety and common courtesies to those towards whom the comments are directed.".Twitter India, represented by Advocate A Karthik, had earlier expressed its willingness to take the tweets off its platform if the Court directed it to do so..Apart from the tweets against Sardesai, Simha's allegations that the India Today Group killed a story on one Sumit Mukherjee; misrepresented statistics relating to the circulation of its magazine; and made false claims about the publication of the book Weapons of Peace: Secret Story of India’s Quest to Be a Nuclear Power, authored by the Group's Managing Editor Raj Chengappa, are called into question before the Delhi High Court..Countering Simha's allegations, Advocate Hrishikesh Barua, appearing for Living Media, submitted:The story relating to Mukherjee was published by the India Today magazine in 2003, much after Simha was handed his relieving order.The Group's declared circulation figures were backed by statistics.Chengappa's book was published by Harper Collins and not by the Group's sister publication 'Books Today', as alleged by Simha..Taking note of these submissions Justice Shakdher observed:."I am of the view that the plaintiffs have made out, at least at this stage, a prima facie case in their favour that the impugned tweets lack justification."Justice Shakdher.With these remarks, the Court issued notice and posted the matter for November 19..[Read the Order]