New Delhi, Jul 20 The Delhi High Court on Monday recalled its direction to news portal The Wire to not publish "defamatory content" against former Delhi chief secretary Naresh Kumar in relation to the Bamnoli land acquisition matter.
Justice Anup J Bhambhani said that the interim direction, passed on Kumar's lawsuit over the publication of a "defamatory" article by the news portal, was "over-broad, presumptive" and "based purely on a hypothetical situation", making it "untenable in law".
Justice Bhambhani, however, refused to interfere with the interim directions to the news portal to take down the allegedly defamatory content at this stage, stating that any contrary decision has to await the conclusion of trial in the lawsuit.
"In these circumstances, this court is of the view that the ad-interim directions issued in para 30(iii) of judgment dated 22.11.2023 (to not post, circulate or publish any similar defamatory content against the plaintiff) are required to be recalled. Para 30(iii) of judgment dated 22.11.2023 is accordingly deleted," the judgement said.
The defamation suit was filed in 2023 in relation to a November 9 news article on the Bamnoli land acquisition, which alleged links of then chief secretary's son to the beneficiary's family.
The 19-acre land in question was acquired by the National Highways Authority of India in 2018 for the construction of the Dwarka Expressway.
Kumar, in his plea, had sought to take down the article as well as a direction to restrain the news portal and the reporter from publishing any further defamatory articles against him.
His counsel had said the article was "pre-planned" in order to "activate" people against him and to "please some people".
The counsel for the news portal had refuted that the article contained any defamatory imputation as alleged and sought to rely upon a Preliminary Report submitted to the chief minister of Delhi on November 14 by Atishi, Minister of Vigilance and Revenue, Government of NCT of Delhi, as a justification for the contents of the article.
The suit said that a legal notice was also sent by the chief secretary to the portal and the reporter on November 13, 2023, claiming that the contents of the article are ex-facie misleading and per se defamatory.
According to reports, the price of the land was increased from Rs 41.52 crore to Rs 353.79 crore in May and the Union Ministry of Home Affairs initiated action against South West Delhi District Magistrate Hemant Kumar for approving the enhanced compensation.
On November 22, 2023, Justice Bhambhani's predecessor bench had directed The Wire to take down the alleged defamatory article.
It had also directed the news portal and its reporter to not post, circulate or publish any similar defamatory content against the plaintiff as set out in the article.
"Undoubtedly, while freedom of speech and expression is sacrosanct, the reputation of a person earned over several decades, cannot be sacrificed at the altar of such freedom, when the impugned publication, ex-facie, contains unsubstantiated allegations and defamatory imputations, regardless of the truth.
"In the present case, the court has also taken note of the crescendo of politically motivated tweets/ posts/ comments, virtually in sync with the publication of the aforesaid article/ publication dated November 9, which further validate the necessity of urgent injunctive order," it had said.
