"Reputation is purest treasure:" Mumbai Court restrains Kamaal R Khan from making defamatory remarks against Salman Khan

The Bombay City Civil Court on Wednesday passed an interim order restraining actor Kamaal R Khan from making and uploading videos, posting, tweeting or publishing any defamatory content, directly or indirectly, about Bollywood actor Salman Khan, his business ventures and their films/projects including the latest film 'Radhe'..The order was passed by Additional Sessions Judge CV Marathe in the notice of motion filed by Khan in his defamation suit..While allowing the interim relief, the sessions judge observed that "a good name is better than riches. Reputation is a sort of right to enjoy good opinion of others and it is a personal right and an inquiry to the reputation is personal injury. A good reputation is an element of personal security and is protected by the constitution equally with the right to enjoyment of life."He added that reputation is "not only a salt of life, but the purest treasure and the most precious perfume of life" The judge opined that every man is entitled to his good name and self-esteem which is held by others. "Reputation and honour are no less precious to good men than bodily safety and freedom. In some cases they may be dearer than life itself," the Sessions Judge remarked..The Sessions Judge concluded that Khan had come up with a case which pointed out the damage suffered to his reputation due to the publication of the tweets and hence, relief at the interlocutory stage can be granted. .Advocate Pradeep Gandhy appearing for Khan levelled the following allegations seeking urgent reliefs:KRK was a habitual offender who had misused social media platforms to defame, malign and propagate defamatory content. KRK had posted videos regularly against Khan, his family members, their films and business associations for quite sometime without any basis.He argued that while there is no restriction to comment on a film and the performances in the film, the personal allegations levelled against Khan did not fall "within realm of fair comment". .Advocate Manoj Gadkari appearing for KRK vehemently opposed the reliefs sought. He argued that a public figure should be open to criticism and KRK had merely expressed his opinion about the film 'Radhe'.His contention was that the case of action in the present suit arose after the review of the film 'Radhe', hence Khan could not have used the previous posts by KRK for challenge in the present suit.Gadkari added that KRK's comments were merely fair criticism and did not amount to lowering of Khan's image in the society. Invoking KRK's right to free speech, Gadkari stated that the present suit was nothing but "an act to terrorise people". .After perusing the content termed 'defamatory' by Khan in his suit, the Sessions judge concluded that the tweets or videos do not refer to the content of the film and "very clearly lower down Khan's image in the society" portraying him as a "criminal, cheater and person with no dignity". The Court also stated that KRK failed to explain his defamatory statements and if use of such words is permitted to be continued, then it will cause irreparable loss to Khan's image. The Court passed an interim order restraining KRK from making any defamatory statements against Khan and his business ventures while seeking KRK's response. .Khan and his business venture were represented by Gandhy, who was briefed by a team from DSK Legal including Managing Partner Anand Desai, Partner Chandrima Mitra and Associate Partner Parag Khandhar..[Read order]