The Delhi High Court has today ordered The Wire a online news platform for taking down its write up on the Chief Secretary of Delhi Mr. Naresh Kumar in relation to the land acquisition by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the Dwarka Expressway project.
The order was passed by Justice Sachin Datta after the Chief Secretary filed a defamation case against online news platform and its reporter Meetu Jain.
The Chief Secretary moved the Court seeking directions to The Wire for taking down the article immediately and for not publishing any defamatory material against him
Kumar also asked the court for directions to social media platforms like Twitter and Google to take down the posts or links or references to the story.On November 9, an article was published by The Wire had published an article with the heading ‘Links of son of Delhi Chief Secretary to Beneficiary’s Family in Land Over-Valuation Case Raise Questions.’
As per the story Karan Chauhan who is the son of the Karan Chauhan had links with a family that got benefit from the hiked compensation after their 19 acre plot in Delhi’s Bamnoli village was acquired for the Dwarka Expressway by the NHAI.
A defamation case was then filed by the Chief Secretary before the High Court through advocates against the media platform and its reporter Meetu Jain.
He sought the takedown of the story and tweets related to the story and also prayed for directions to restrain The Wire from publishing any further defamatory allegations and to take down of tweets related to the story.
While hearing the matter on Tuesday, the Bench had told The Wire’s counsel that there should be some basis for its report casting aspersions on Kumar and that there should be some semblance of truth to the allegations.