Delhi HC directs Congress, AAP to remove posts linking Dushyant Kumar Gautam to Ankita Bhandari case

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party to remove within 24 hours social media posts linking BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam to the 2022 Ankita Bhandari murder case.

In an interim order passed on a defamation lawsuit by Gautam, Justice Mini Pushkarna also restrained the two political parties from posting any content targeting the BJP national secretary as the alleged "VIP" in the murder case.

The judge said if the content was not taken down within 24 hours, the social media platforms would remove the same as per the rules.

The court also passed the directions against other persons and entities, including actor Urmila Sanawar and Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee.

"Till the next date of hearing, the following directions are passed: Defendants 1 to 9 (Congress, AAP and others)... are restrained from hosting, uploading, publishing, circulating .. any content which names, targets, or imputes that the plaintiff is the alleged VIP in the Ankita Bhandari matter. Defendants 1 to 9 are directed to remove the various posts and videos uploaded on social media platforms, namely, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and X," the court ordered.

"In the event the defendants 1 to 9 fail to comply with the directions within 24 hours of pronouncement of this order, defendants 10 to 12 (X, Meta Platforms Inc and Google LLC) are directed to take down the aforesaid posts as per the rules," it further said.

Justice Pushkarna said Gautam had made out a prima facie case in his favour and if the interim order to restrain the hosting of the "defamatory" content was not passed, irreparable injury would be caused to him.

The court asked the social media platforms to also take down any "identical" content once it was flagged by the BJP leader.

In 2022, 19-year-old Bhandari, a receptionist at the Vanantra Resort in Pauri district, was murdered. The resort owner, Pulkit Arya, and two employees, Saurabh Bhaskar and Ankit Gupta were subsequently arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court for the crime.

An audio clip recently released by Sanawar, who claims to be the wife of former MLA Suresh Rathore, allegedly mentioned a 'VIP' allegedly linked to the case.

In his lawsuit, Gautam has sought Rs 2 crore as damages from the Congress and AAP as well as Sanawar, Rathore, Uttarakhand Predesh Congress Committee and its President Ganesh Godiyal and Congress' national media panellist Alok Sharma.

Relief is also sought against X users Mohit Chauhan and '@PMNehru'.

On Wednesday, the senior counsel appearing for Gautam argued that his "impeccable reputation" of five decades was being tarnished by the Congress, AAP and others by linking him to a murder case in which conviction had already happened after a trial.

Calling it "outright defamation", he emphasised that Gautam's name never came up in the investigation and the defendants' social media posts were damaging his reputation "without an iota of evidence".

The senior counsel further claimed that Sanawar was a "habitual offender" who has many criminal cases against her, and the Congress and AAP propagated her false narrative.

"It is a matter of grave concern that political parties are carrying out press conferences and circulating video clips and defamatory posts without verifying facts and making further malicious allegations in complete absence of any substantial material," the lawsuit said.

The matter would be heard next on May 4.