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The court opined that the allegations are neither ‘based on any credible and reliable sources’ nor ‘seem to be premised on a public record document’.
The Delhi High Court, recently, directed Kerala-based news channels The Karma News and Janam TV, along with the Malayalam newspaper Janmabhumi to remove defamatory content against Journalist Dhanya Rajendran. The posts and articles ‘contained defamatory, malicious and false information’ accusing Dhanya of ‘indulging in illegal activities’.
The bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan held, “Plaintiffs have made out a case for grant of ad interim relief. I am satisfied that grave and irreparable damages will be caused to the plaintiffs, if ad interim injunctive orders are not passed in their favour. The balance of convenience also lies in favour of the plaintiffs”.
The case stemmed from a suit filed by Journalist Dhanya Rajendran seeking a permanent and mandatory injunction to remove defamatory content. Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao, representing Dhanya, argued that Galaxy Zoom India along with others operates a news channel named The Karma News, Janam TV, and newspaper ‘Janambhumi. It was asserted that they publish deceptive, false, malicious, defamatory, and distorted posts and articles on their websites and YouTube channels concerning the “Cutting South” event.
Senior Advocate Rao contended that Galaxy Zoom accused Dhanya of being an agent of George Soros, alleging that central investigative agencies found that Soros funded Indian online media through her. It was claimed that Dhanya acted as conduits of foreign money to cause disruption in India, implying illegal activities affecting national integrity and security, and sought to ‘cut’ and ‘divide’ South India. It was argued that these allegations were entirely baseless, false, and constituted fake news deliberately spread to tarnish Dhanya’s reputation.
The court noted, “Prima facie view that the allegations in various posts/videos are not based on any credible and reliable sources for making out a case that the said allegations are true and based on facts”. Furthermore, these allegations did not appear to be based on any public record, such as a criminal case registered or pending against Dhanya.
Accordingly, the court listed the matter for October 23, 2024 while directing Galaxy Zoom to remove all listed posts and videos.
Case Title: Dhanya Rajendran & Anr v Galaxy Zoom India Ovt Ltd & Ors (CS(OS) 540/2024)
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