New Delhi [India], April 16 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered to take down posts on X Posts/Tweets alleging that Senior Advocate and BJP Leader Gaurav Bhatia was "beaten up" by lawyers at Noida Court.
The bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, while passing an order on an interim petition, sought direction to restrain defendants from ceasing the publication of any of the defamatory allegations, ordered that a host of videos on YouTube alleging that the plaintiff, Gaurav Bhatia, was beaten up be made private till the pendency of his defamation suit against them.
The bench directed that the X Posts/Tweet which have not been removed be removed within seven days by the defendant handlers of X posts in terms of the Intermediary Guidelines. It is further directed that the videos which are in the public domain be made private by Google LLC and not to be put in the public domain, without the Orders of this Court.
Through suit, Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia has sought permanent for injunction in favour of him and against the defendants, thereby ceasing the publication of any defamatory allegations against the plaintiff.
According to the suit, the defendants in the matter are, Naveen Kumar (YouTube Channel: Article19 India), Neelu Vyas, (YouTube Channel: The News Launcher), Professor Akhil Swami, Rajeev Nigam (YouTube Channel: Rajeev Nigam), BBI NEWS.(YouTube Channel: BBI NEWS), Sandeep Singh, (X Handle @ActivistSandeep), Vijay Yadav (X Handle: @yadavvijay88), NETAFLIX (X Handle: @NetaFlixIndia), Sunitajadhav (X Handle: @sunmor2901), Guruji (X Handle: @GURUJI_123), Dawood Nadaf (X Handle: @DawoodNadaf10), Drkhatra (X Handle: @dumbitpatra12), Virus Baba I.N.D.I.A Wala (X Handle: @Virus_Studioz) and GOOGLE LLC.
The suit stated that on March 20, an unfortunate incident occurred before the District Judge, Gautam Budh Nagar District Court, Noida, wherein Sr Advocate Gaurav Bhatia band was snatched by a lawyer who were in the courtroom and that too in the presence of the District Judge.
It is pertinent to note herein that when the plaintiff was apprised by the office bearers of Gautam Budh Nagar Bar Association that they had called for a strike that day, the plaintiff readily agreed to adjourn the matter and thereafter the matter was duly adjourned.
The fact of the matter is that the plaintiff had made it clear that he was amenable to taking a date, but nonetheless, he was manhandled by one particular local lawyer whose identity is yet to be established.
On the very same day of March 20, the Supreme Court Bar Association, of which the plaintiff is a member, shot off a letter to the Chief Justice of India, wherein an impartial inquiry into the incident was sought.
The Supreme Court Bar Association also issued a letter to the President of Janpad Dewani and Faujdari Bar Association, Gautam Budh Nagar, Noida, urging the Executive Committee to identify the said lawyer, put him on notice, and take strict action against the concerned lawyer.
The Supreme Court recently also took suo motu cognizance of the incident of the alleged manhandling of Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia in the Noida court. The court termed it a "serious matter", and issued notice to the President, Secretary of the Jan Path Diwani Bar Association Gautam Budh Nagar and SSP Gautam Budh Nagar.
The court also directed the District Judge, Gautam Budh Nagar, to ensure that the CCTV footage of the incident is in safe custody pending further orders and to submit a report on the incident.
The court also sought direction from the District Judge to obtain a report from the administrative staff attached to the concerned court where the manhandling of another advocate, Muskan Gupta, took place.