The millionaire entrepreneur complained that Marunadan Malayali had been posting defamatory content against him since 2013.
Shajan Skariah, Editor of Marunadan Malayali. (Sourced)
The Delhi High Court has ordered a Malayalam news portal to remove all content it had published against LuLu Group founder and Managing Director MA Yusuff Ali from all platforms, including social media.
Justice Dhari Singh issued the order to Marunadan Malayali and its editor Shajan Skariah to take down the content based on a defamation suit the millionaire entrepreneur had filed.
The court also directed Google and YouTube to ensure the removal of content if Skariah failed to comply with its order.
Seeking a permanent injunction restraining Skariah and others from posting, publishing, uploading, distributing, or re-publishing any false, defamatory, and libellous content against the LuLu Group, Ali submitted that the portal had been putting up defamatory content against him since 2013.
Ali’s counsel submitted that Skariah’s activities were distasteful and done solely to malign his client’s reputation and fame.
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 Ali.
The court held that though freedom of speech and expression was a fundamental tenet of liberty and an indispensable part of an effective democracy, it did not give an absolute right to abuse one’s freedom to defame others.
“…the law related to defamation is one such reasonable restriction on the freedom of speech as prescribed under the Constitution”, the order said.
“Upon a bare perusal of the contents of the plaint and the content posted by defendant No.1 (Skariah) on record before this court, a prima facie case is made out against defendant No. 1. Accordingly, given the prima facie case being made out as well as in the interest of protection of rights of the plaintiff, this court is of the opinion that in the instant case, an ad interim injunction merits to be granted,” the order further read.
The court listed the case for further consideration on 22 August.
Earlier this month, Marunadan Malayali reported that actor Prithviraj Sukumaran was one of the producers under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate.
The portal claimed that the ED slapped a fine of ₹25 crore on the actor for receiving black money from foreign nations to finance “propaganda” films, which became a hot topic on social media.
Prithviraj lashed out at Marunadan Malayali for making defamatory allegations against him. The actor, through his social media handle, termed the allegations “false and defamatory”.
“The allegations are devoid of any truth, are malicious, and defamatory,” his post read. The 40-year-old actor also revealed that he was pursuing legal means.
Further, Prithviraj advised the media to verify and confirm any allegations against him.
May 20, 2024
May 20, 2024
May 20, 2024
May 20, 2024
May 20, 2024
May 19, 2024
