PM Modi Interview: Delhi High Court Orders 4PM's Editor-In-Chief To Remove 'Defamatory Tweets' Against The New Indian's Rohan Dua

The Delhi High Court has recently passed an ad-interim injunction order for removal of “defamatory tweets” posted by Sanjay Sharma, Editor-In-Chief of Lucknow's evening daily, 4 PM Evening Newspaper, and two other individuals against The New Indian's Editor-In-Chief Rohan Dua in relation to his interview with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 2024 general elections.

Justice Vikas Mahajan ordered that if Sharma and two other individuals, Sultan Siddiquey and Chandra Kumar, fail to take down the posts on X, formerly Twitter, within two weeks, the micro blogging platform shall take down the same within 36 hours of request made by Dua.

The court also restrained the three defendants from posting any “defamatory material” in relation to the interview against Dua and The New Indian or any material which can bring disrepute and tarnish their goodwill and reputation on any social media platform.

The court passed the order in the defamation suit filed by Dua and The New Indian's parent company against the three individuals, arguing that their tweets tend to bring disrepute to his reputation built over years as a journalist.

On July 03, Dua had posted a Tweet saying that “he will expose” country's “biggest scandal” taking place on YouTube with “alleged involvement of 24 employees” whose calls and messages with certain YouTubers were “under lens on algorithm alteration.” In the suit, Dua said that his post did not mention 4 PM news or Sharma but the latter still attacked him on X.

Dua submitted that Sharma's Tweet for defamatory to him as well as The New Indian as it insinuated that they were “beholden to the ruling establishment.”

The tweets made by two other individuals alleged that Dua does “bhakti of Modi and BJP day and night” and that they watch 4PM news for accurate information.

Perusing the posts in question, Justice Mahajan said that prima faice, the tweets insinuated that Dua was partial and biased towards ruling government which had the potential of undermining his creditability as a journalist.

“It cannot be disputed that when it is alleged on a social media platform like 'X' that a journalist favours one party over others, especially when that journalist is followed by thousands of people, such statements/allegations surely compromise his integrity as a professional journalist,” the court said.

It added that by remaining unbiased, journalists uphold their professional ethics and responsibility to provide fair and balanced coverage.

“Impartial journalism also fosters trust amongst viewers and readers. Therefore, making such statements/allegations, as can be seen from the posts, prima facie, creates doubt on the integrity of the plaintiff no.2 as a journalist for which there does not appear to be any tangible material,” the court said.

It further said that in the absence of any evidence to justify the allegations made in the posts by the defendants, Dua and The New Indian made out a prima facie case for grant of ad interim order of injunction in their favour.

Counsel for Plaintiffs: Mr. Raghav Awasthi and Mr. Mukesh Sharma, Advs

The matter will now be heard on October 29.

Title: RAJATARANGINI INDIA MEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED & ANR. v. SANJAY SHARMA & ORS.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 856

Click here to read order