The High Court of Delhi has directed the online Malayalam news portal Marunadan Malayalee and its Editor Shajan Skariah to immediately take down all the content published on its website, YouTube channel as well as other social media platforms against the founder of LuLu Group International, MA Yusuff Ali.
The Single-Judge Bench of Justice Chandra Dhari Singh observed on Friday that prima facie a case for grant of injunction order was made out against Skariah as his comments amounted to misuse of freedom of speech.
It directed the Editor to restrain from making any comments or remarks against Yusuff Ali on any social media platforms, including YouTube.
The High Court further directed Google and YouTube that if Skariah failed to comply, the social media platforms would take down such defamatory content and also suspend the operation of the channel till the next date of hearing in the case.
The Single-Judge Bench took note of the fact that the Marunadan Malayalee Editor was unnecessarily targeting Ali and his business group.
It observed that even though the right to free speech and expression was a fundamental tenet of liberty, which was considered to be an indispensable part of an effective democracy, the same did not give an absolute right to abuse one’s freedom to defame others.
The law related to defamation was one such reasonable restriction on the freedom of speech as prescribed under the Constitution, it added.
The orders were passed on a defamation case filed by Yusuff Ali, alleging that Shajan Skariah has been running a defamatory campaign against him since 2013.
The Counsel appearing for Ali contended that the allegations made by Skariah were distasteful and done solely with the motive of maligning the reputation and fame enjoyed by Ali.
Skariah has been publishing false, concocted and inflammatory content against Ali, even though injunction orders have been passed against the Editor by a Kerala court, noted the Counsel.
The Court concluded that a prima facie case for grant of injunction order was made out against Skariah. It, therefore, prevented Skariah from making such allegations.
The Court also issued summons on the suit and listed the case for further consideration on August 22.
Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Saurabh Kirpal, along with Advocates Pravin Anand, Haris Beeran, Saif Khan, Achuthan Sreekumar, Mushtaq Salim, Ranjeeta Rohatgi, Nikhil Arora, Rohit Bansal, Azhar Assees and Apoorva Prasad R appeared for MA Yusuff Ali.