Will restrain defamatory posts, not satire: HC in Gaurav Bhatia’s News18 show case

BJP leader and senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia has approached the Delhi High Court seeking the removal of defamatory content on social media over his alleged appearance on a News18 India show without pants, Bar and Bench reported. 

Appearing for Bhatia, advocate Raghav Awasthi reportedly said that he was wearing shorts and the cameraman showed the bottom half of his body by mistake. He claimed that social media posts related to the incident violate Bhatia’s privacy and objectionable comments must be removed. 

Bhatia’s defamation suit has reportedly sought removal of posts by Samajwadi Party media cell, Newslaundry, politicians like AAP’s Saurabh Bharadwaj and Congress’ Ragini Nayak and journalists, including Abhisar Sharma. 

Bhatia appeared before the court in person and submitted that people on social media cannot be allowed to use derogatory words concerning his TV appearance.

Justice Amit Bansal heard the matter on Tuesday and said the court will pass orders on Thursday after going through the material. Justice Bansal said that Bhatia is in politics and should be thick-skinned. 

The court clarified that while it will injunct defamatory material referring to Bhatia’s body but satirical or sarcastic content related to the incident will not be restricted. 

Meanwhile, Advocate Mamta Rani Jha, appearing for Google, stated that some of the links sought to be taken down have nothing to do with this incident and that some of the defendants are news publications. The court also said that it must be very careful while passing an ex parte injunction order. 

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