The Delhi High Court recently ordered News18 to takedown a YouTube video of a news debate in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Sanju Verma had used derogatory words against Congress spokesperson Dr. Shama Mohamed.
Justice Vikas Mahajan also ordered X (formerly Twitter) to take down over a dozen tweets “harming and injuring” the Congress Spokesperson’s reputation.
Verma had used terms like ‘Bewakoof Aurat’ against Mohamed and made statements that ‘Shama Mohammad is as shameless as they come’, ‘she is not even a doctor’, ‘you are not a doctor’ and ‘you are a Madrassa Bred Bigot’.
The Court said the comments on the face of it appear to be defamatory, per se demeaning and have a potential to harm Mohamed’s image, who is a national spokesperson of Congress and a dentist by profession.
It also slammed the BJP Spokesperson for such reckless remarks.
“The said posts contain comments like ‘Madrasa breed bigot is the correct technical term for an Islamist who wants to spread caste poison in Hindus using lies’, ‘Madrasa-Chaap Bigot Shama’, ‘But that’s truth. U ppl are not just Madarsah-bred bigots, but also inbred bigots’ etc. Mere reading of such comments would show that these comments have been made in a reckless manner without any justification, even disregarding basic etiquettes and demeanour expected of the panelists in a public debate,” the Court said.
Justice Mahajan stressed that reputation is an integral and important aspect of dignity of every individual.
It is equally well settled that rights conferred by Article 19(1)(a) are subject to reasonable restrictions in the interest of the public or decency or morality or in relation to defamation or incitement of an offence, the Court said.
“This freedom needs to be exercised with circumspection and cannot be permitted to violate the rights of other citizens and to jeopardize their public interest. More so, in case of political functionaries, who spend their lifetime in building their image in the public, which cannot be permitted to be tumbled by baseless, defamatory statements by any political entity/individual for petty gains,” it added.
Mohamed filed the defamation suit against Verma and News18 in regard to the news debate which took place on August 20.
The debate was regarding the RG Kar Hospital murder and rape in West Bengal. Mohamed’s counsel argued that instead of engaging with the merits of her statement, Verma had resorted to malicious and vicious name calling against her.
It was also submitted that the news channel has a history of allowing the use of abusive, violent and defamatory statements.
“Such instances have also been brought to the notice of the National Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority, whereby the said authority has passed orders imposing penalties against the defendant no. 2 for violating ‘Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards’,” the Court was told.
The Court was satisfied that a case for grant of ad-interim relief was made out and accordingly passed the takedown order.
It also issued summons to Verma, News18 and online platforms.
Advocate Muhammad Ali Khan, Omar Hoda, Eesha Bakshi, SM Khursheed, Uday Bhatia and K Sharma represented Dr Shama Mohamed.
[Read Order]