In a major blow to the Congress leaders Ragini Nayak, Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera, the Delhi High Court on 11th July, ordered the trio to delete X posts wherein they shared video clips from a discussion on India TV, Sharma’s news channel. Sharing the clip, Congress leaders last month alleged that Sharma used offensive language towards Congress’s Ragini Nayak. As X Corp had geo-blocked the 5 X posts in question in pursuance of the court order dated 14th June, the court on Thursday directed X Corp to unblock the URLs of these posts.
“Having considered the submissions of the Plaintiff and Defendant no. 1, this Court directs that Defendant No. 1 shall unblock the URLs listed below which they claimed to have geo-blocked in pursuance of the order dated 14.06.2024. Such unblocking of the URLs will be done by 5 P.M. on 12.07.2024,” the Delhi High Court said.
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora directed the three Congress leaders to “immediately delete” the X posts listed in the court order within one hour of their URL unblocking by X Corp before 5 pm on 12th July.
“The Defendant No. 1 shall immediately inform the Plaintiff and Defendant Nos. 4, 5 and 6 that the tweets have been unblocked. Upon being informed, Defendant Nos. 4 to 6 shall immediately delete the following tweets within 1 hour of such unblocking by Defendant No. 1, latest by 7 PM on 12.07.2024,” the court order states.
Moreover, the court also directed Ragini Nayak, Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera not to post the video clip in question or post anything about the IndiaTV debate held on 4th June this year until a final decision by the court.
Plaintiff Rajat Sharma, who owns IndiaTV, expressed apprehension through his counsel Sandeep Sethi that the Congress leaders may not delete the said posts even after the unblocking of URLs. While the court said that such a “breach” of the court order is “unlikely”, in case of non-compliance, Sharma shall inform X Corp by 8 pm on 12th July. Once the intimation is received by X Corp, in case the defendants defy the court order, X Corp will re-block the URLs of the listed posts on or before 8 pm on 13th July.
Notably, in an order dated 14th June 2024, the Delhi High Court had directed the three Congress leaders to remove the said X posts, however, the trio did not delete any of those posts until 3rd or 4th July. After this, X Corp claimed to have geo-blocked which simply means restricting or blocking access to online resources based on the user’s geographic location.
As per a court order dated 5th July, Rajat Sharma had contended that while X Corp had geo-blocked the listed X posts restricting their viewership in India, those posts could be viewed by social media users abroad. Sharma through his counsel deemed this partial compliance of the injunction order as “disobedience” until those posts are disabled globally.
Legal portals and Congress twist court order
On 11th July several legal portals like Bar and Bench, and LiveLaw reported that X Corp had informed the Delhi High Court that the video posted by Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak alleging that senior journalist Rajat Sharma used abusive words against her is “not fake or edited”. Appearing for X, Advocate Rajshekhar Rao filed an application claiming that Rajat Sharma indeed said the abusive word “B****c***” against Ragini Nayak during the live debate on 4th June.
“A comparison between the Video and the footage live streamed by India reveals that both videos are identical in content. Thus, the Video in the posts is prima facie genuine and matches India TV’s own YouTube channel live stream, which is still available online,” the X Corp’s application claimed seeking vacation of the injunction order.
X Corp. contended that ordering the deletion of the X posts in question would grant final relief to plaintiff Rajat Sharma in the guise of interim relief.
This is a case where the plaintiff says he said nothing. If you hear the content, it show he said something… Ex facie, I am able to show that something was said… On this basis alone, the suit [by Sharma] must go… This order [interim injunction] should go,” Rao said.
These reports deliberately highlighted the X Corp’s application claiming that the video clip posted by Ragini Nayak and the other two Congress leaders is not edited or fake, instead of reporting the crux of the court order. Emphasising on the X Corp’s application claiming that the video is not fake instead of the court order which directed Congress leaders to delete the said posts, these legal portals advertently or inadvertently peddled a false propaganda that somehow, Congress leaders have been vindicated even though the court order is a “win” for Rajat Sharma.
Quoting LiveLaw’s X post, Congress spokesperson Ragini Nayak said, “‘X’ formerly ‘Twitter’ ने दिल्ली High Court को बताया कि मेरे द्वारा पोस्टेड वीडियो न तो ‘Fake’ है, न ही ‘Edited’ है !!! [X formerly Twitter tells Delhi High Court that video posted by me is neither fake nor edited.],” Nayak wrote.
‘X’ formerly ‘Twitter’ ने दिल्ली High Court को बताया कि
— Dr. Ragini Nayak (@NayakRagini) July 11, 2024
मेरे द्वारा पोस्टेड वीडियो न तो ‘Fake’ है, न ही ‘Edited’ है !!! https://t.co/c24Kn4qjYy
In response to the propaganda peddled by the Congress ecosystem, Rajat Sharma shared an excerpt from the court order wherein it was stated that the defendants have been ordered to delete the video clips featuring Sharma.
“I am amazed at the false propaganda. The court in the order today has clearly directed Ragini Nayak, Pawan Khera, and Jairam Ramesh to delete the tweets as per order dated 14.6.24. Court has further directed Twitter to block the tweets if the Congress leaders fail to do so. The court has also told the Congress leaders that they are not allowed to post any further tweets related to the debate, till the ad interim order is finally decided by the court The order is attached here for anyone who can read. Satyamev Jayate!,” Sharma posted.
I am amazed at the false propaganda. The court in the order today has clearly directed Ragini Nayak, Pawan Khera, and Jairam Ramesh to delete the tweets as per order dated 14.6.24,. Court has further directed Twitter to block the tweets if the Congress leaders fail to do so. The… pic.twitter.com/jnzYkWdQx3
— Rajat Sharma (@RajatSharmaLive) July 11, 2024
Notably, OpIndia had earlier conducted an analysis of the video clip from the 4th June debate and found that there is a small gap when Sharma was speaking in a low voice. Our anaylsis showed that what might look like abusive word to some people, in reality Sharma was saying “Kya baat karein, chodo”. He said, “Kya baat karein” then there is a small gap followed by him saying “chodo”. When it is played at a normal speed, this gap is not visible.
