Court Questions BJP Leader For Not Removing Defamatory Tweet On AAP Leader

The Delhi High Court today asked BJP MLA Vijender Gupta why he was not removing the alleged defamatory tweets he made against the city's Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot claiming irregularities in procurement of 1,000 low floor buses by the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC).

A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh asked the counsel for Gupta to take instructions from his client about whether he still wants to keep the tweets or remove them.

"Why don't you remove the tweets, your purpose has been achieved. What you wanted to do has been achieved. The question is why should these tweets remain? Are you getting any comments on it now? Please get instructions on this. Your purpose has been served," the bench told the counsel for Gupta.

Gupta's counsel said he will return with the instructions at the next hearing.

The high court, which was hearing an appeal by the AAP leader against a single judge order declining to grant him interim relief on his defamation lawsuit against Gupta, listed the matter for further proceedings on January 16, 2023.

During the hearing, the counsel for Gahlot argued that Gupta made "scandalous" tweets and urged the court to direct him to delete them from social media during the pendency of the suit.

"There is absolutely a no-corruption policy (in the government). This is all scandalous. You are not happy with our policy, criticise us but you have no right to do our character assassination," he contended.

The court also issued notice to Facebook, which is a party in the matter, and asked Gahlot's counsel to file process fees to enable the notice to be served to the social media platform.

The high court, which earlier issued notice to Gupta and others on Gahlot's appeal, had asked the lawyers for the two leaders to explore the possibility of a settlement of the defamation case filed by the AAP leader, and observed that defamation cases involving political leaders are "only posturing".

Gahlot had approached the high court in 2021 with his civil defamation lawsuit against Gupta and sought Rs 5 crore in damages from the BJP leader for making "scandalous" statements alleging irregularities in the procurement of 1,000 low floor buses by the DTC.

The minister argued that Gupta made unabated tweets questioning his integrity over the purchase of the buses despite a high-powered committee having given him a clean chit.

Besides seeking a direction restraining Gupta from posting/ tweeting/ publishing any defamatory or scandalous or factually incorrect tweets/ posts on social media platforms and giving interviews, writing articles and blogs in respect of purchase of low floor buses, the suit before the single judge also sought removal of the alleged defamatory content from social media.

On March 7, the single judge had refused to restrain Gupta from publishing or tweeting anything related to the procurement of the buses and said no one should be prevented from expressing their opinions including suspicions or doubts on business transactions of the government unless blatant lies and falsehood adversely affecting the national interest are disseminated through social media platforms.

The single judge had said the fact that both the parties are public figures and members of the legislative assembly cannot be overlooked, and an interim order will amount to restraining Gupta from raising issues of public importance.

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