Salman Khan’s defamation suit: Neighbour’s plea of justification appears more probable, says court

The Mumbai City Civil and Sessions Court, while rejecting actor Salman Khan’s petition for interim injunction against his Panvel farm house neighbour Ketan Kakkad, said Kakkad’s plea of justification – of the allegations that he levelled against the actor about his farm house - was more probable than Khan’s prima facie case

The Mumbai City Civil and Sessions Court, while rejecting actor Salman Khan’s petition for interim injunction against his Panvel farm house neighbour Ketan Kakkad, said Kakkad’s plea of justification – of the allegations that he levelled against the actor about his farm house - was more probable than Khan’s prima facie case.

Actor Salman Khan had filed a defamation suit . File Photo

Khan had filed a defamation suit against Kakkad and some others, claiming that he had made several defamatory statements against the actor and his family in his Facebook interviews, conducted and hosted by Sandeep Phogat, which were later uploaded on the latter’s YouTube channel “Phogat Film”.

The actor had filed a notice of motion in the suit for interim injunction against his neighbour and others, restraining them from making any more derogatory comments or posting any interviews on social media platforms about him or the activities at his farm house.

He had also sought orders for temporarily removing and disabling access to purportedly defamatory content already uploaded on social media sites. The court, however, rejected his plea for interim orders on March 23.

In the detailed order, which became available on Wednesday, judge A H Laddhad said while the actor failed to show how some serious allegations levelled by Kakkad – about human and drugs trafficking – were directly or indirectly linked to him, his accuser Kakkad submitted documents to support his plea of justification.

The judge said Kakkad had documentary proof to show that Salman had blocked access to his own land. “For the allegations that the plaintiff [Salman] committed encroachment and violated the Forest Act and the Matheran Eco ­Sensitive Zone notification, he [Kakkad] has placed the applications [complaints] which have been made to the forest department and the collector along with the annexures and also the show cause notices issued by the forest department [to Salman],” the court said.

The court also said the actor’s neighbour claimed that he had made imputations in public interest – for protection of the environment by pointing out constructions allegedly made by the actor in breach of the legal provisions and regulations.

“Kakkad has raised the plea of justification with prima facie material and is ready to prove the same during trial,” the court said, adding, “Therefore, at this preliminary stage, I find the defendant’s [Kakkad’s] plea of justification is more probable than the prima facie case of the plaintiff.”