Delhi High Court Directs Congress Leaders To Immediately Delete 'Defamatory Tweets' Against Rajat Sharma

The Delhi High Court has directed Congress leaders Ragini Nayak, Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera to immediately delete “defamatory tweets” against senior journalist Rajat Sharma latest by 7 PM today, in compliance of an interim order passed on June 14.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora directed X Corp, formerly Twitter, to unblock the tweets in question, which the social media platform claimed to have geo-blocked, by 5 PM today.

“The Defendant No. 1 shall immediately inform the Plaintiff and Defendant Nos. 4, 5 and 6 that the tweets have been unblocked. Upon being informed, Defendant Nos. 4 to 6 shall immediately delete the tweets within 1 hour of such unblocking by Defendant No. 1, latest by 7 PM on 12.07.2024,” the court said.

The defamation suit was filed after Congress leaders alleged that Rajat Sharma used abusive language on air during a show on the election result day.

On June 14, a coordinate bench ordered the Congress leaders as well as X to remove the social media posts within seven days in terms of the Intermediary Guidelines.

X Corp informed court that the tweets were geo blocked by it on July 04. However, the same were not deleted by the Congress leaders of which they were the authors.

The counsel appearing for the Congress leaders submitted, on instructions, that they shall delete the social media posts in compliance with the interim injunction order but the take down will be without prejudice to their rights and contentions on the merits of the case and while reserving their right to seek vacation of the order, which was passed ex-parte.

The Congress leaders further said that they will take down the tweets as soon as they are unblocked by X Corp and that they have no intention to not comply with the interim injunction order.

They further undertook that they shall not post the videos as identified by Sharma in his defamation suit or any further tweets regarding the debate telecasted on India TV channel till Twitter's application seeking vacation of the impugned order or their challenge to the ad-interim order is finally decided.

X Corp contended that to enable the Congress leaders to delete the tweets, it shall have to first unblock the URLs, which process would require 24 hours.

The court clarified that Sharma's rights in his application for non-compliance of the interim injunction order shall remain and shall be pursued by him.

Similarly, the court said, that the rights and contentions of X Corp. in its application seeking vacation of the order in question shall not be prejudiced by the takedown.

In its application, X Corp said that the video posted by Ragini Nayak on the social media platform alleging that Sharma abused her on live TV is “not edited or fake.”

It said that the video, which was also shared by Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera, matches India TV's own raw footage as well as Rajat Sharma's own filings in his defamation suit, and is therefore “prima facie authentic.”

Last month, the single judge had allowed Sharma's interim injunction application. “…it is directed that the X Posts/Tweets which have not been removed, be removed within seven days by defendants in terms of the Intermediary Guidelines,” the court had directed.

The controversy arose after Congress national spokesperson Ragini Nayak accused Sharma of abusing her on national television on the counting day of 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Title: Rajat Sharma v. X Corp & Ors.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 771