The Maharashtra Cyber division has issued a notice to the Wikimedia Foundation, the organization behind Wikipedia, demanding the removal of "objectionable" content related to Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj from the online encyclopedia. The notice, issued under the Information Technology Act, claims the content is inaccurate and lacks proper references, potentially inciting communal hatred. The move follows recent claims by various organizations about the existence of defamatory information regarding Sambhaji Maharaj on Wikipedia, particularly in the wake of the Hindi film "Chhava", based on his life. The Maharashtra Cyber has directed the Wikimedia Foundation to remove the content promptly and prevent its re-uploading.
A court in Maharashtra's Nashik district has summoned Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed against him for his alleged objectionable remarks against Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.
The popular online source of information is embroiled in legal cases in India over alleged inaccurate and defamatory content provided by it.
Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange has been booked by Beed police for allegedly making defamatory remarks against Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde over the murder of a sarpanch in the district. The FIR was registered based on a complaint by Tukaram Aghav, who alleged that Jarange's remarks were aimed at creating a divide in society. The activist had targeted Munde during a rally in Parbhani, stating that the Maratha community would not allow Munde to roam the streets if the sarpanch's family was harmed. Munde's supporters protested against Jarange, demanding action against him. The sarpanch, Santosh Deshmukh, was abducted, tortured, and murdered on December 9, allegedly for trying to prevent extortion from an energy firm. Seven individuals have been arrested in connection with the murder case, including Walmik Karad, an associate of Munde, who has been arrested in the extortion case. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) is probing the cases.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has rejected a privilege notice against Union Home Minister Amit Shah after he cited a 1948 government press release to authenticate his statement that a Congress leader was part of the management of Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh had moved the notice against Shah for "casting aspersions" on Congress Parliamentary Party head Sonia Gandhi.
Gokhale, in his tweets on June 13 and 26 made reference to certain property purchased by former Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations Lakshmi Puri in Switzerland and also referred to her husband Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.
Medha Somaiya, in her complaint filed through advocate Vivekanand Gupta, had alleged that Raut made baseless and completely defamatory allegations against her and her husband.
Comedian Kunal Kamra continues to face backlash for his jokes targeting Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde. The Legislative Council admitted a breach of privilege notice against him, while a state minister demanded his arrest. The controversy stems from Kamra's stand-up performance where he made satirical remarks about Shinde, leading to protests and vandalism by Shiv Sena supporters. The comedian has been summoned by the police and faces legal trouble, with even Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw justifying the action, emphasizing the need to uphold legal safeguards. Amid the controversy, Kamra lashed out at the mainstream media, calling it a "miscommunication arm" of the ruling party.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SVN Bhatti noted that a separate bench of the apex court had junked the plea filed by AAP leader Sanjay Singh on April 8 in the same case, who is a co-accused in the case.
Comedian Kunal Kamra has been granted interim anticipatory bail by the Madras High Court in a case filed against him for allegedly making defamatory remarks against Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde during a stand-up comedy show. Kamra, who resides in Tamil Nadu, was summoned by the Mumbai Police and feared arrest, prompting him to seek bail from the Madras HC. The court granted him bail until April 7, on the condition that he executes a bond to the satisfaction of the judicial magistrate at Vanur in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu.
Taking cognisance of the alleged defamatory posts, the high court had directed the CBI to probe the role of prominent persons in the southern state who were intentionally targeting Supreme Court and high court judges.
The Delhi high court on Monday refused to quash the proceedings against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other Aam Aadmi Party leaders in a defamation case over their remarks about alleged deletion of the names of 30 lakh voters belonging to some communities from electoral rolls in the national capital.
Robert Vadra dismissed as "utterly false, entirely baseless and defamatory" allegations over his property dealings with DLF and said he was saddened by attempt of activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan to malign him and his family to "gain cheap publicity".
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and SV N Bhatti sought Tankha's response in four weeks on the plea of Chouhan and BJP state president VD Sharma and former minister Bhupendra Singh who have challenged the October 25 order of the Madhya Pradesh high court refusing to quash the defamation case.
A special court in Pune on Friday granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case related to his alleged objectionable remarks on Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar.
The court said the company has made out a prima facie case in its favour and in case no ad-interim injunction is granted, it would suffer an irreparable loss.
While agreeing to hear his petition on September 27 last year, the top court stayed the proceeding against Murugan that was pending in a special court in Chennai.
Modifying the single bench order, the division bench presided by Justice I P Mukerji directed that Banerjee and Ghosh will be free to make any statement concerning the Governor, not crossing the contours of freedom of speech and expression and public duty.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta is likely to hear the matter in which Kejriwal has admitted that he "committed a mistake" by retweeting the alleged defamatory video.
A case is filed by the Bharatiya Janata Party's Karnataka unit for issuing "defamatory" advertisements in mainstream newspapers.
In the notice, Malviya's lawyer said Sinha, in a post on Facebook, made "some false and defamatory allegation" with an intention to harm his client's reputation.
The lawyer said Tharoor made a reference to an article published in the Caravan magazine six years before the statement was made.
Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal, said after the last hearing on March 11, the parties could not get in touch with each other to discuss a settlement.
Under the relevant law, the activist may get a jail term of two years or fine or both as the punishment.
Nation Live editor Anshul Kaushik was arrested on Monday and remanded in 14-day judicial custody.
The high court said a sense of responsibility has to be attached while retweeting content about which one does not have knowledge and added that retweeting of defamatory content must invite penal, civil as well as tort action if the person retweeting it does not attach a disclaimer.
The complainant alleged that Kejriwal had "intentionally" used such defamatory words with a view to spreading a sense of "hatred and contempt" towards the PM.
Rahul Gandhi has threatened to pursue "all legal actions" against Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy, who targeted him and Sonia Gandhi raising questions over acquisition of a company that published the now-defunct National Herald newspaper to which Congress gave a loan of over Rs 90 crore.
The report, made public on Saturday, claimed the complaints were "ill-motivated."
The high court said the defence, if any, needs to be considered by the trial court on the basis of evidence.
The Delhi high court on Monday said Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra cannot be prevented from defending herself against allegations made by an estranged friend in public domain as long as her statements are not objectively false.
Daryll Cullinan is enraged with Herschelle Gibbs for claiming that he leaked the story of a marijuana-smoking session involving the South African opener and has described the controversial cricketer's statements in his autobiography as "highly irresponsible and defamatory."
The Delhi high court on Tuesday imposed Rs 2 lakh as costs on BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover in the matter related to his alleged defamatory social media posts against the fintech company. Justice Rekha Palli took on record the apology and the undertaking given by Grover but proceeded to impose costs on him, saying the "court cannot be taken for granted". The judge, while dealing with a plea by Resilient Innovations Pvt Ltd - which owns BharatPe - against its former MD, said the court was "appalled" to note the "persistent" and "blatant" violation of the earlier orders and assurances given by Grover in this regard.
In strong observations while hearing the plea, the high court cited the death of Princess Diana while trying to escape the media chase, and said there needs to be "some toning down" as people are "afraid of the fourth pillar of democracy" because of its powers.
The court sentenced Patkar after considering the evidence before it and the fact that the case went on for over two decades.
It said the high court, while finding fault with the reasoning adopted by the magistrate for issuing the summons, went ahead and decided the matter on merit and held that no case for defamation was made out.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said the error committed by the trial judge had been perpetuated by the high court.
The NCW said it strongly condemns the defamatory remarks and requests strict action against Moitra.
The Delhi high court on Monday directed Trinamool Congress leader Saket Gokhale on Monday to apologise and pay Rs 50 lakh damages to former diplomat Lakshmi Murdeshwar Puri, wife of Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri, for his defamatory tweets against her over the purchase of a property in Switzerland.