The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered the removal of objectionable social media content targeting Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Kumar Choudhary.
Choudhary moved the Court for the removal of social media content that allegedly features him in a phone conversation with a woman containing ‘sexual undertones’.Justice Amit Bansal stated that a prima facie case was made out in favour of the Deputy Chief Minister and proceeded to direct the takedown of the defamatory content.Further, the Court allowed Choudhary's application to proceed against the persons who uploaded the defamatory content on social media platforms.
The National Conference leader Choudhary has sought a permanent and mandatory injunction in the matter, alleging that there is defamatory content against him with sexual undertones on several social media platforms, including Facebook and YouTube.
Justice Amit Bansal, while granting the interim relief, said a prima facie case is made out in favour of Choudhary in the defamation suit filed by him.Urging the court to order the take-down of the objectionable content from the Internet, the counsel for Choudhary said his face has been plastered all over with a woman in the viral videos.
The court noted that, according to the suit, Choudhary has been an upright leader throughout his career and has achieved the position through his efforts. It listed the matter for further proceedings in April.It had earlier been observed that the plaintiff did not file the transcripts of the alleged objectionable content, without which it cannot determine if it is defamatory or not. The court had asked Choudhary, who represents Jammu and Kashmir’s Nowshera Assembly constituency, to place on record the defamatory content along with the transcripts.
The plaintiff’s counsel had told the court that the objectionable content with sexual overtones was uploaded on social media. The counsel said most of the content dates back to two years, and the majority of the URLs relate to media reports.On the last date of hearing on December 9, the Court had directed Meta and Google to provide details of the content uploaders to Choudhary's lawyers within three days.
Today, the Court was informed that the details of the uploaders have been shared with Choudhary by the social media intermediaies. Thereby, he filed an impleadment application to add the persons who uploaded the defamatory content on social media platforms."I am satisfied that the parties are required to be impleaded for proper adjudication. Application allowed. Amended memo of parties taken on record," the Court stated.
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