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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court, on Friday, issued a notice to X (formerly Twitter) and Congress leaders Ragini Nayak, Jairam Ramesh, and Pawan Khera for not removing their posts defaming journalist Rajat Sharma, accusing him of using abusive language during a broadcast on election result day.

The bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora issued a notice with directions to file a reply within 2 weeks and a rejoinder within 4 weeks. 

In its previous order, the bench of Justice Manmeet PS Arora opined that while public criticism and postings on platforms like X are subject to a higher threshold, personal dignity, and reputation should not be compromised under the guise of free speech. 

The bench further elucidated that the courts balance these competing rights. Despite Rajat Sharma not engaging in abusive conduct, subsequent videos and posts on social media misrepresented the facts, which has damaged Sharma’s reputation. Given these considerations, the bench opined that allowing such videos and posts to remain in the public domain would cause irreparable harm to Sharma’s reputation as a journalist. However, the judge emphasized that granting an ex parte injunction should occur only under exceptional circumstances.

However, X (Twitter) moved to the division bench seeking to halt the order of the single bench. However, the bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela in July informed X that, as an intermediary, it could be directed to take down the content. They referenced a Supreme Court judgment that allowed courts to direct intermediaries to remove content, emphasizing that X must comply.

During the recent session, Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar, representing Sharma, informed the court that the three Congress leaders had not complied with the order despite being notified. He also mentioned that X had not complied, opting to file an appeal before the division bench instead. However, no stay was granted, and compliance was still required.

Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao, representing X, claimed that the platform had complied with the order as of the late evening of July 3.

However, the court noted that “Defendant no. 1 states that it appears that plaintiff has accessed the tweets printed 13:45 by using VPN; he confirms that the tweets have been disabled for viewing in India only and would be visible outside India”. 

However, Senior Advocate Nayar contended that the compliance was partial, as the posts were only disabled within India and remained viewable outside the country. Senior Advocate Nayar emphasized that Sharma's reputation was at stake, noting his substantial following of 11.2 million. He argued that partial compliance was insufficient, noting that Indian courts could issue global injunctions if the content was uploaded or located in India. He asserted that since the impugned tweets were uploaded by the Congress leaders from an IP address in India, they should be globally disabled.

Therefore, the court granted X and the Congress leaders two weeks to file their replies and an additional two weeks to file a rejoinder if necessary.

Case Title: Rajat Sharma v. X Corp & Ors.