BJP’s Amit Malviya gets defamation notice over social media posts

The notice, demanding an apology and a compensation of Rs 1 crore for defaming the protesters, was sent in response to a video shared by Malviya on January 15 on Twitter, in which a woman is claiming that she was paid Rs 500 per to attend the protest at Shaheen Bagh.

Two of the Shaheen Bagh protesters have sent a defamation notice to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, for allegedly “attacking the integrity of the protesters by spreading lies against them”.

Protesters address the media during the ongoing protest at Shaheen Bagh, near Kalindi Kunj, in New Delhi.(Burhaan Kinu / Hindustan Times)

The notice, demanding an apology and a compensation of Rs 1 crore for defaming the protesters, was sent in response to a video shared by Malviya on January 15 on Twitter, in which a woman is claiming that she was paid Rs 500 per to attend the protest at Shaheen Bagh.

The protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Shaheen Bagh entered Day 37 on Tuesday.

In their notice, the two women — Nafisa Bano and Shahzad Fatma — said that since Malviya a member of the ruling BJP, he had a “vested interest in defaming the mass of protestors” in Shaheen Bagh.

HT contacted Malviya, but he was not available for a response. The two protesters said that Malviya has spread lies against them and tried to divert attention about the truth from the public eye.

The notice, sent through advocate Mehmood Pracha on Monday, further stated, “A video posted and endorsed by you on social media site Twitter, which has been played across several media platforms, had alleged that the protesters are taking Rs 500 to Rs 700 in order to be part of the protests. Such statements are not only false but also have an effect of defaming the protesters in the national and international community.”

Since December 16, 2019, around 500 protesters have blocked the Delhi-Noida border at Shaheen Bagh, near Kalindi Kunj, to protest against the CAA and the NRC. Most protesters are women from Shaheen Bagh, near Jamia Nagar, in south Delhi.