Delhi HC asks woman lawyer, scribe to explore settling issue amicably in defamation suit

Delhi HC asks woman lawyer, scribe to explore settling issue amicably in defamation suit

New Delhi, The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked journalist Omar Rashid and a woman lawyer, against whom he has filed a defamation suit, to explore the possibility of amicably settling their issues.

Delhi HC asks woman lawyer, scribe to explore settling issue amicably in defamation suit

Rashid has filed the defamation suit against two women lawyers, who made social media posts against him alleging sexual harassment and have been arrayed as defendant no. 1 and defendant no. 2 in the lawsuit.

Justice Manoj Jain asked the counsel for the plaintiff scribe and the defendant no. 1 woman to get instructions if it was possible for the parties to find an amicable solution and noted that they both were earlier in a relationship.

The connection between the plaintiff and defendant no. 2 woman is not known.

The court also issued notice to the two women and social media intermediaries on an interim application of the plaintiff seeking an injunction from posting any defamatory content against him and also to take down the existing social media posts against him.

The court orally observed that there are certain serious imputations against the journalist.

"There are certain things which have gone beyond the permissible limit. But we are not making any observation because we still don't have your stand in writing. But then there are certain serious imputations which, if you fail to justify, then you are inviting some trouble for yourself also. We understand a relationship can turn sour, but that does not mean that the person should be indulging in such type of assertions unless it is duly corroborated. We don't know how you will corroborate it," the judge orally said.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on October 7.

During the hearing, the counsel for defendant no. 1 woman urged the court to restrain the media from reporting this case.

To this, the bench said it would consider the prayer on the next date and granted time to the defendant no. 1 woman to file her reply to the main suit and the application.

On September 9, the High Court had issued summons and notice in the defamation suit.

The issue relates to some anonymous social media posts by two women accusing the journalist of grave offences, including sexual violence and "force feeding beef".

Following the allegations, a case was initiated at the National Human Rights Commission against the journalist. However, it was closed after the police concluded there were no grounds to proceed with the investigation.

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