The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered Congress leaders to delete all the posts against Union Minister Smriti Irani and her 18-year-old daughter Joish Irani within 24 hours.
“I am of the prima facie view that slanderous allegations were made against the plaintiff without verifying actual facts. Grave injury has been caused to the reputation of the plaintiff in view of the tweets and retweets carried out due to the press conference of the defendants,” Justice Mini Pushkarna stated.
A bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna has also directed to remove all types of morphed pictures, videos, and posts, tweets, retweets, from social media regarding the allegations leveled against Smriti Irani. The bench said, if the respondents fail to comply with its directions within 24 hours, action will be taken against them.
Moreover, the High Court has also issued summons to the three Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera, and Netta D’souza on a civil defamation suit filed by Smriti Irani. Smriti Irani has filed civil defamation seeking permanent and mandatory injunction along with damages of over Rs 2 crore.
Meanwhile, Congress leaders had also demanded the dismissal of Smriti Irani, who holds the charge of the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Minority Affairs, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet in this matter.
Earlier, Congress leaders had accused Smriti Irani’s daughter of running an illegal bar. Smriti Irani, while rejecting the allegations of Congress leaders, had said, “My daughter is 18 years old and she is a college student. She neither does any kind of politics nor runs any bar.”
However, the Union Minister had said that based on RTI, Congress has leveled allegations against my daughter. Irani said that there is no mention of my daughter in the RTI which is being talked about. The Union Minister had also said that the Gandhi family could not digest their defeat in Amethi, hence such allegations are being made.