The Delhi High Court on Friday imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shazia Ilmi for suppressing facts in her defamation suit against India Today journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.
Ilmi had filed the suit against Sardesai over his comments on X (formerly Twitter) related to a video recorded after she left a debate show on India Today channel.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora partly allowed the application filed by Ilmi seeking interim relief in the suit.
The High Court, however, imposed cost of Rs 25,000 on Ilmi for willfully suppressing two tweets related to the case.
The plaintiff (Ilmi) was ordered to deposit the amount with the Delhi High Court Bar Clerks Association through its Secretary within three weeks.
The single-judge Bench further confirmed its interim order, passed on August 13, 2024, directing the takedown of an 18-second video clip that showed an altercation between Ilmi and a video journalist.
The High Court observed that the 18-second video recording, which continued after Ilimi walked out of the show, violated her right to privacy and could not remain online till the disposal of the suit.
The single-judge Bench also rejected the allegations made by the BJP leader against the video journalist.
Ilmi claimed that the video journalist, through his actions, had outraged her modesty. She also called the journalist a pervert and lecherous. The High Court further rejected the allegation that the video posted by Sardesai was doctored.
The single-judge Bench further examined whether Sardesai’s allegation in his tweet that Ilmi abused the India Today video journalist present in her house at the time of the show should be struck down.
It held that Sardesai was not justified in saying in his tweet that Ilmi ‘chucked’ the mike and threw the video journalist out of her house.
The remaining parts of the same tweet (‘abuse our journalist’ and ‘no excuse for bad behaviour’), however, were not liable to be struck down as prima facie, they appeared to have some basis, noted the Court.
It further ruled that the impugned quote tweet of Defendant No. 1 (Sardesai) would not be covered by the Norms of Journalistic Conduct as it was not being published as a journalistic piece of news. The tweet was in the nature of the personal comment of Defendant No. 1 vis-à-vis the Plaintiff, basis the impugned video; albeit with the express approval of Defendant No. 2, added the Bench.
The dispute originated on July 26, 2024, after a debate hosted by Sardesai on India Today. Sardesai and Ilmi clashed after the BJP leader tried to intervene when Major General (Retired) Yash Mor was pointing out the shortcomings in the Agnipath scheme. As Ilmi intervened, Sardesai said the former General was putting forth hard facts.
Ilmi told him not to ‘sermonise’ anyone.
A heated argument followed between the journalist and the BJP leader for several minutes, after which she left the show.
On the same night, Ilmi posted a tweet on her X account accusing Sardesai of bringing down her fader (volume) on the show.
Pointing out that she has been on both the sides (Ilmi was previously a journalist), the BJP leader said she knew how to handle bullies like Sardesai. She further said that it did not behove political propagandists masquerading as journalists to sermonise.
The next morning, Sardesai shared a video on his X account alleging that Ilmi had abused the India Today video journalist present at her home.
He said that if Ilmi had a grouse with him or with an army general on the show, it was her prerogative, which Sardesai respected. He accused her of chucking the mike and abusing the video journalist of India Today and throwing him out of her house.
Sardesai further said that the video journalist was only doing his job. There was no excuse for bad behaviour, he added.
Ilmi approached the court on the grounds that her privacy was violated as the India Today journalist continued to shoot the video even after she had walked out of the show.
In August 2024, the Court directed Sardesai to take down the video uploaded by him on his personal account.
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