Delhi HC allows person behind anonymous sexual harassment allegations against Subodh Gupta to maintain anonymity for now

The Delhi High Court today allowed the person behind the Instagram account which made anonymous sexual harassment allegations against artist Subodh Gupta, to file his/her vakalatnama in a sealed cover and to furnish redacted copies of his/her written statement, applications etc. to the other parties at this stage..The order was passed by a Single Judge Bench of Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw..Subodh Gupta had moved the High Court earlier this year, aggrieved by the “defamatory content” on an anonymous Instagram account, ‘Herdsceneand’..Consequently, apart from directing the Instagram account holder from posting any content pertaining to Gupta and directing social media platforms to remove the defamatory content, the Court had also asked Instagram and the Facebook to furnish the particulars of the person/entity behind the Instagram account ‘Herdsceneand’ in a sealed cover..With Herdsceneand appearing in Court through his/her counsel, Advocate Abhik Chimni, the Court today clarified that there was no need for Facebook to comply with that direction now..While seeking permission to maintain his/her anonymity, at least at this stage, Herdsceneand submitted that it was subjecting itself to the jurisdiction of the Court but irreparable harm would be caused if the identity is revealed at this stage. Herdsceneand stated that it would make detailed submissions before the Court on the issue of anonymity..After initial reservations on the ground that an anonymous defendant would amount to shadow boxing, the Court allowed Herdsceneand’s plea to maintain secrecy with respect to its identity at this stage..The Court today also granted an opportunity to Gupta to file its response to the impleadment applications in the case by Culture Worker Support Trust and Indian Journalists Union..Culture Worker Support Trust informed the Court that it was in support of maintenance of anonymity in the case as any revelation would result in victimization of the person who has opened up about his/her experience..Apart from being made a party to the suit, the Indian Journalists Union has also sought the vacation of the ex parte order passed by the Court, directing Google, Twitter etc to take down, remove and block access to various newspaper articles which reported on the sexual harassment allegations against Gupta..The Union has submitted that the news reports constituted fair and responsible journalism and were within the permissible scope of reportage in cases of sexual harassment allegations. It is submitted that while some of them do not even pertain to the anonymous allegations which are a subject matter of the present case, the reports contain Gupta’s response and the comments of other persons from the industry..It is also added that Gupta has even failed to establish that those news reports were prima facie defamatory in nature..Thus, arguing that that the ex-parte order was in violation of Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India, the Union has prayed for setting aside of the injunction order insofar as it directs the removal of news reports which constitute fair reportage..The matter would be heard next on January 22..Gupta was represented by Senior Advocate Kailash Vasudev..Facebook was represented by Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi and Google was represented by Senior Advocate Arvind Nigam..IUJ was represented by Senior Advocate Ritin Rai and its applications are filed through Advocates Sanjana Srikumar, Devdutta Mukopdhyay.