Delhi High Court: In a case wherein a suit for mandatory injunction, damages and costs was filed by the plaintiff against the defendants for immediate removal of per-se defamatory publications as well as to recover adequate suitable damages from the defendants for publishing/circulating utterly incorrect and defamatory allegations qua the plaintiff, a Single Judge Bench of Chandra Dhari Singh, J. opined that many of the articles were indicative of wilful campaign launched by the defendants to lower the reputation of standing of the plaintiff in the eyes of his constituents, supporters and the public at large and this did not befit a newspaper of the repute and stature of the defendants to indulge in such a conduct.
The counsel for the plaintiff submitted that the plaintiff was a world-class athlete, a former cricketer and captain of the Indian Cricket Team, a Patriot, and a Parliamentarian (Lok Sabha) and he was constrained to invoke the jurisdiction of this Court due to the numerous malicious, libellous statements that had been published against him by Defendant 1 newspapers through its representatives. It was further submitted that Defendant 1, Punjab Kesari was one of the most widely read Hindi news dailies, however, the defendant Organization, through its newspaper and its representatives, had been intentionally publishing false and defamatory articles with a view to damage the reputation of the plaintiff from 16-5-2022 onwards. Defendants 1 and 2 were served with a legal notice, to cease and desist from making any defamatory publication against the plaintiff, however, no response had been received to the same from the defendants till date. Therefore, the plaintiff approached this Court to pass mandatory injunction against the defendants.
The Court upon bare reading of the various impugned news articles titled “Gambhir Ke PA Arora Ke Sangrakshan Me Chal Rahi Hai Gandhi Nagar Me Avaidh Parking”; “ Umeedwaroon ke namon ko lekar Bhajpa Vidhayakon va Jila- addhyakshon ke beech kheench-taan”; “Dilli ke lapata Sansad Lucknow Super Giants ke liye bane Bhasmasur” opined that many of these articles were indicative of wilful campaign launched by the defendants to lower the reputation of standing of the plaintiff in the eyes of his constituents, supporters and the public at large and this did not befit a newspaper of the repute and stature of the defendants to indulge in such a conduct.
The matter would next be listed on 18-10-2023.
[Gautam Gambhir v. Punjab Kesari, 2023 SCC OnLine Del 2889, Order dated 17-5-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Plaintiff: Jai Anant Dehadrai, Martin G. George, Advocates
For the Defendants: Raj Shekhar Rao, Senior Advocate; Dhrvu Chawla, Advocate
