Delhi High Court Directs Twitter To Take Down Tweets Of Historian Audrey Truschke Against Vikram Sampath

The Delhi High Court on Thursday directed micro blogging site Twitter to take down some of the tweets made by historian Audrey Truschke against historian Dr. Vikram Sampath over allegations of plagiarism against him with respect to his two-volume biography of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Justice Amit Bansal was hearing an application filed in the suit filed by Sampath against Audrey Truschke and other persons over a letter sent by them to Royal Historical Society raising allegations of plagiarism against him with respect to a journal publication and his two-volume biography of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and some alleged defamatory tweets made pursuant thereto.

The suit stated that Historian Audrey Truschke and other persons namely Ananya Chakravarti and Rohit Chopra wrote the letter dated February 11 to Royal Historical Society in London raising serious allegations of plagiarism.

In the application, it had been stated that after the said letter, Truschke and others had sent another communication to the Royal Historical Society raising further allegations of plagiarism against Sampath and that the same was also posted on Twitter and Facebook.

The said tweets in question were posted subsequent to an interim order passed by the Court earlier this month.

While the Court today issued notice to Facebook, it said that no orders will be passed at the stage against Truschke and other defendants asking them to withdraw the said letters or further communication in question.

Advocate Raghav Awasthi represented Sampath in the matter.

Earlier, the Court had restrained historian Dr. Audrey Truschke and other persons from publishing any defamatory material against Sampath  till April 1 on Twitter as well as other online or offline platforms.

The Court had also restrained the defendants from publishing the letter dated February 11 addressed to Royal Historical Society in London raising serious allegations of plagiarism against Sampath, till the next date of hearing.

The had Court issued summons in the suit and posted the matter for further hearing on April 1.

The suit sought decree of permanent injunction against the aforementioned defendants to cease the publication of Letter or any other defamatory material.

The suit also sought damage of Rs. 2 crore from the said defendants.

The suit was also accompanied with an application seeking ad interim ex parte injunction restraining the said defendants from publishing the Letter or any other defamatory material on Twitter or any other online or offline platforms during the pendency of the suit. It also sought an ad-interim ex-parte injunction directing Twitter to cease publication of the allegedly defamatory tweets in question. 

Case Title: DR. VIKRAM SAMPATH v. DR. AUDREY TRUSCHKE & ORS

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 144