NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has ordered Twitter user Anurag Srivastava to pay Rs 5 lakh in compensation to TV Today for posting defamatory tweets targeting the channel and journalist Rajdeep Sardesai following an interview with actress Rhea Chakraborty.
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav, in a September 3 order, observed that the tweets were “highly defamatory” and awarded Rs 5 lakh to TV Today to address the reputational harm caused by Srivastava’s posts.
“The Court finds that the objectionable tweets were highly defamatory and remain unsubstantiated by the defendant, despite having been afforded sufficient opportunity to do so. Such an irresponsible act of the defendant has to be deprecated.
"Having considered the overall circumstances, this Court deems it just and proper to award Rs 5,00,000 as general compensatory damages to the plaintiff, to redress the reputational harm, emotional hardship, and loss of professional credibility caused by the conduct of the defendant,” the order said.
The defamation case was filed by TV Today in 2020 after Srivastava, who operated the Twitter handles ‘@theanuragkts’ and ‘@theanuragoffice’, posted several tweets targeting Sardesai and the channel. These tweets were published shortly after TV Today aired an interview conducted by Sardesai with Rhea Chakraborty.
TV Today flagged tweets in which Srivastava referred to Sardesai as a “dalla” (a derogatory Hindi term implying ‘pimp’) and accused him of spreading false news. Another tweet compared Sardesai to terror-accused Zakir Naik and included the hashtag #ShameOnAajTak.
Srivastava also alleged that Rhea Chakraborty bribed Sardesai and India Today for the interview, commenting, “RIP 4th Pillar of Democracy.”
The channel claimed the tweets caused reputational and financial damage, presenting records showing a decline in total income from Rs 899.57 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 819.92 crore in 2020-21.
TV Today argued that the tweets formed part of a premeditated and systematic attempt to tarnish Sardesai’s and the channel’s reputation.
Srivastava later deleted the posts and assured the Court he would not repost them. Interim orders in 2020 had already restrained him from publishing similar content.