The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered social media users to remove within 24 hours posts allegedly defaming Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s daughter Himayani, linking her to Jeffrey Epstein. The court said failure to act would cause “irreparable injury”.
Justice Mini Pushkarna directed that the order apply in India. She stated, “The present injunction order will operate within the Indian domain… Insofar as URLs… uploaded from outside India, the defendants are directed to ensure that they are blocked in India.”
The interim order was passed in Himayani’s Rs 10-crore defamation suit. The judge noted a prima facie case and said the balance of convenience was in her favour. “Defendants are restrained from publishing or circulating the contents…on any platform…,” the court said, adding, “All specified links and content must be removed within 24 hours. If not, social media intermediaries must block access.” The court said that the plaintiff may notify platforms of “other URLs containing identical content”.
During the hearing, Himayani alleged “political malice” because she is the daughter of a minister. Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani argued that she was the “subject of very scurrilous posts”. He told the court, “There is both personal malice and… political malice… This is all a figment of someone’s imagination… I am accused of professional misconduct and moral turpitude.”
Tech giants Meta and Google questioned the court’s jurisdiction for global blocking. Meta’s counsel argued, “India can’t block globally… England can’t block globally.”