HC orders Samajwadi Party to delete defamatory post against Amit Malviya

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has directed the Samajwadi Party and its media cell to take down within four days a "defamatory" post on X against BJP IT department head Amit Malviya.

In an interim order passed on Friday on the lawsuit by Malviya against the Samajwadi Party (SP) and 'Samajwadi Party Media Cell', the court said if the defendants do not remove the post, X shall take it down within 36 hours after it receives a request in this regard.

Malviya had filed a case after the SP media cell's account on August 3 put out a post accusing him of sexual misconduct.

The court observed that the allegation is extremely offensive and an individual's reputation is an integral part of his personality which cannot be unjustly tarnished under the guise of freedom of speech.

"Under these circumstances, the defendant nos.1 (Samajwadi Party Media Cell) and 2 (Samajwadi Party) are directed to take down/remove/restrict access/block the URL of the post uploaded on X, which contains defamatory statements against the plaintiff within a period of four days," said Justice Vikas Mahajan in the order uploaded on the court's website on Saturday.

"In the event the defendant nos.1 and 2 fails to take down/remove/restrict access/ block the aforementioned URL within the period of four days, the plaintiff (Malviya) shall be at liberty to approach and request the defendant no.3 X, and the latter, in that eventuality, shall take down the URL within a period of 36 hours of such request," he said.

In the lawsuit, Malviya said following his post on X on the outrage over the brutal gang rape of a minor girl in Ayodhya, the Samajwadi Party Media Cell "retaliated with a personal attack" and falsely accused him of sexual misconduct.

In its order, the court said it is prima facie of the view that there is substance in the submissions that the post is a "retaliatory post containing defamatory and libellous allegations and insinuations, made in reckless manner without regard to the truth, to tarnish the reputation of the plaintiff, who, by virtue of his professional profile, is a public figure".

"An individual reputation is an integral part of his/her personality and cannot be unjustly tarnished under the guise of freedom of speech. The plaintiff is head of national political party's NITD and also co-in-charge of West Bengal unit of BJP and the heedless allegations of the nature made in the offending post not only bring his name into disrepute, but have the potential of adversely affecting his political career built over the years," the court said.

It observed that the public image of political functionaries cannot be permitted to be tumbled by baseless and defamatory statements by any political entity for petty gains.

Grave and irreparable loss and injury will be caused to the plaintiff if ad interim injunctive orders are not passed in his favour, the court said, while also issuing summons to the SP and its media cell on the lawsuit.

Malviya's counsel had argued in court that the post on 'X' on August 3 was "defamatory" and "utterly scandalous", and had serious adverse impact on his reputation and urgent directions were needed to take it down.