Defamation Case

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said he has started the process of filing a defamation case against AAP leaders in Delhi and Goa for naming him and his wife in the alleged cash-for-jobs scam. Sawant said Opposition parties, especially the Aam Aadmi Party, are naming him and his wife in the scam without any reason and proof while the state police are conducting a transparent investigation. "I have started the process of filing a defamation case against AAP leaders in Delhi and Goa. My wife will file another defamation case against them," Sawant told reporters at Goa Airport. Many aspirants had lodged complaints across Goa alleging they were forced to pay lakhs to some persons who promised to facilitate jobs in the state government. "I initiated action against the accused involved in the cash-for-jobs scam. The government has given a free hand to police for free-and-fair investigation in the matter," Sawant said. He accused the Opposition of dragging him and his family

One should be ready to receive all sorts of unwarranted and unnecessary compliments upon entering politics, the Supreme Court observed on Wednesday while hearing union minister L Murugan's plea in a defamation case. The apex court in September 2023 stayed the criminal defamation proceedings against Murugan on a complaint filed by Chennai-based Murasoli Trust for his alleged defamatory statements at a press conference in December, 2020. Murugan, union minister of state for Information and Broadcasting, moved the top court challenging the September 5, 2023 order of the Madras High Court, which refused to quash the defamation proceedings. When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday before a bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan, it asked his counsel, "Are you willing to make a statement that you had no intention to defame?" The counsel appearing for the trust said that persons holding office had to be responsible. "Free speech issues, you have to have breathing space,"

A Pune court ordered Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to appear in person before it on December 2 in connection with a defamation complaint filed against him by Hindutva icon V D Savarkar's grandnephew. Satyaki Savarkar had filed a complaint in a Pune court claiming Gandhi, in his speech in London in March 2023, stated that Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and he (Savarkar) felt happy. As per the plea, Savarkar has not written this anywhere. The court had asked the police to investigate the allegations and file a report. The Vishrambaug police station had carried out the enquiry and said that there is a prima-facie truth in the complaint. On October 4, Special court for MP/MLA, presided over by Joint Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate (First Class) Amol Shinde, had issued summons to Gandhi asking him to appear before it on October 23. However, Gandhi did not appear as it was told that he did not receive the summons. ...

Advocate-activist T J Abraham on Wednesday said he has filed a defamation suit against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a special court here for allegedly calling him a blackmailer. He is among the petitioners who had urged Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot to permit investigation against the Chief Minister in the alleged Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) scam. Siddaramaiah in his enthusiasm for vengeance against me made certain public statements. He called me a blackmailer and a person with bad antecedents, Abraham told PTI. You (Siddaramaiah) have taken 14 sites by creating a bogus and illegal claim and you call me a blackmailer! I have filed a defamation case against you. We will see how you will escape, he said. In the MUDA case, it is alleged that compensatory sites were allotted to Siddaramaiah's wife in an upmarket area in Mysuru, which had higher property value as compared to the location of her land which had been "acquired" by the MUDA. The MUDA had allotted

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Monday a plea of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor against a Delhi High Court verdict that refused to quash defamation proceedings against him for his alleged "scorpion on Shivling" remark targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While hearing Tharoor's plea on September 10, the apex court had stayed the proceedings before a trial court in the defamation case filed against the Congress MP. The top court had also issued notice to the Delhi Police and BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, who is the complainant in the case, seeking their responses on the plea. As per the cause list of October 14 uploaded on the apex court website, a bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti is slated to hear Tharoor's plea. The Congress MP has moved the top court against the high court's August 29 order which refused to quash the defamation proceedings against him. During the hearing on September 10, Tharoor's counsel told the apex court that the complainant cannot be said

The Supreme Court on Friday deferred hearing on a plea of Delhi Chief Minister Atishi and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal challenging the high court order refusing to quash a defamation case over their remarks on alleged deletion of names of 30 lakh voters belonging to some communities from electoral rolls. A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti noted the submission of senior advocate Sonia Mathur, appearing for BJP leader Rajiv Babbar, that her caveat was not mentioned in the office report and she could not file response as the petition was served late evening on Thursday. The bench listed the matter for hearing on Monday. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Atishi and Kejriwal, said he can argue the matter on September 30. Both Atishi and Kejriwal has challenged the September 2 order of the Delhi High Court by which it had refused to quash the proceedings against them and other AAP leaders over their remarks about alleged deletion of names of voters, saying the

You cannot be "touchy" in politics, the Supreme Court observed while hearing Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting L Murugan's plea relating to a criminal defamation proceeding initiated against him. Murugan approached the apex court last year, challenging a September 5, 2023, Madras High Court order in which it had refused to quash the proceeding against him on a complaint filed by Chennai-based Murasoli Trust for his alleged defamatory statements during a December 2020 press conference. While agreeing to hear his petition on September 27 last year, the top court stayed the proceeding against Murugan that was pending in a special court in Chennai. The apex court had also sought the Trust's response on his plea challenging the high court order. When the matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan on Friday, the counsel appearing for Murugan said, "Where is the question of defamation in this case?" The lawyer appearing

Delhi HC issued a contempt notice to Wikipedia for not disclosing users behind defamatory edits on news agency ANI's page. The court also warned of shutting down Wikipedia's operations in India

BJP leader accused Arvind Kejriwal and AAP leaders of defaming the BJP by claiming the party was responsible for deleting 3 million names from the Delhi electoral rolls

Journalist Rohan Dua's interview with Olympian Manu Bhaker led to allegations of sexism, accusing him of focusing on the Bhaker's appearance rather than her sporting achievements

The Delhi High Court has directed several media houses to take down and block the URLs of certain videos and posts on social media which contained defamatory statements against Rajya Sabha MP Venumbaka Vijaya Sai Reddy. The high court, in an interim order, said if the media houses fail to remove the URLs within 10 days, the Member of Parliament will be at liberty to approach and request the intermediaries, including Google, Meta Platforms and X, which must then take them down within 36 hours. The high court it its observation expressed displeasure over the spreading of rumours, especially when it has the potential to affect the dignity of a woman and the reputation of a person. Perusal of such statements further reveal that most of them are based on rumours and it is trite law that rumours unlike truth must not be acted upon as an information for dissemination before the public at large especially when such rumours can potentially affect the dignity of a woman as well as the ...

Metropolitan Magistrate Tanya Bamniyal granted bail to Atishi on furnishing a bail bond of Rs 20,000 and a surety bond in the like amount

A defamation suit against Fox News by a government official who served on a short-lived US government media disinformation board was dismissed on Monday by a federal judge. The lawsuit from Nina Jankowicz alleged that Fox had defamed her on numerous occasions, leading to waves of online attacks and threats of violence after the formation of the Disinformation Governance Board, where she served as a director. In May of 2022, just weeks after its launch, the Department of Homeland Security paused the board's work and accepted Jankowicz's resignation. The board was officially dissolved and its charter rescinded in August of that same year. In rejecting Jankowicz's claims, the judge said that 36 of the 37 statements made on Fox News programmes were about the disinformation board and not Jankowicz. The judge ruled that the remaining statement which was also a reference to the board and not Jankowicz, despite showing an image of her as it was said was not disinformation because it was a

In a relief to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, the Bombay High Court on Friday quashed a magistrate's order permitting an RSS worker to submit fresh and additional documents in a pending criminal defamation complaint. RSS worker Rajesh Kunte had in 2014 lodged a defamation complaint before the Bhiwandi magistrate's court, claiming the Congress leader had made false and defamatory statements during a speech that the right-wing outfit was responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. In 2023, the magistrate court in Bhiwandi in Thane district permitted Kunte to submit the transcript of Gandhi's speech, which was part of a petition the Congress leader had filed in 2014 seeking the quashing of summons issued to him. Kunte contended that by including the transcript as part of his petition, Gandhi had "unambiguously owned up to the speech and its contents". Gandhi challenged the magistrate's order before the high court. On Friday, a single bench of Justice Prithviraj Chavan allowed

Defamation case: TMC MP Saket Gokhale must post a public apology on his X (formerly Twitter) account, which has to remain posted for six months

Rahul Gandhi defamation case: The case was filed in 2018 for remarks made against then BJP President Amit Shah at a press conference in Bengaluru

The hearing in the defamation case against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his alleged objectionable remarks against Union Home Minister Amit Shah was on Tuesday fixed for June 26 as the concerned judge was on leave. The case related to Gandhi allegedly making objectionable comments against Shah is going on in the MP/MLA court here. The defamation complaint against Gandhi was filed by BJP leader Vijay Mishra. Santosh Kumar Pandey, the plaintiff's lawyer, said that the matter was listed to be heard on Tuesday but due to the judge of the concerned court being on leave it has been postponed to June 26. The concerned court judge Shubham Verma had on June 7 fixed June 18 as the date for hearing the above case. The Congress leader had appeared in the court on February 20 in the defamation case and he was granted bail by the court. The complaint was filed on August 4, 2018, against Gandhi for his alleged objectionable comments against Shah at a press conference in Bengaluru. The ...

Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was formally indicted on Tuesday on a charge of defaming Thailand's monarchy in one of several court cases that have unsteadied Thai politics. Thaksin, an influential political figure despite being ousted from power 18 years ago, reported himself to prosecutors just before 9 a.m. and the indictment process has been completed, Prayuth Bejraguna, a spokesperson for the Office of the Attorney General, said at a news conference. A car believed to be carrying Thaksin arrived at the Criminal Court in Bangkok but he did not come out to meet reporters, and it is unclear whether he went to the court or the nearby prosecutors' office. His lawyer Winyat Chatmontree told reporters that Thaksin was ready to enter the judicial process and that he has prepared a request for his release on bail. The law on defaming the monarchy, an offense known as lese majeste, is punishable by three to 15 years in prison. It is among the harshest such laws globally and ..

A court here on Friday reserved for July 1 its order on the quantum of sentence against activist Medha Patkar in a defamation case lodged against her by Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena when he headed an NGO in Gujarat. Metropolitan Magistrate Raghav Sharma reserved the order after noting that the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) submitted a victim impact report (VIR). The report is prepared after the conviction of an accused to assess the quantum of loss suffered by the victim. The offence entails a maximum punishment of simple imprisonment of up to two years or fine or both. Earlier on May 24, the court had observed that Patkar's statements calling Saxena a "coward" and alleging his involvement in hawala transactions were not only defamatory per se but also crafted to incite negative perceptions about him. Also, the accusation that the complainant was "mortgaging" the people of Gujarat and their resources to foreign interests was a direct attack on his integrity and pub

The City Civil Court in Bengaluru granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in connection with the Karnataka defamation case filed against him by the state Bharatiya Janata Party unit