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In Mahua Moitra vs lawyer Dehadrai over Henry the dog, a ‘free speech’ twist: HC asks ‘why not sort it out’
At the heart of dispute is Henry, a Rottweiler. Moitra filed case in district court seeking shared custody following the breakdown of relationship with Dehadrai
The ongoing battle over a pet dog between lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai and Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra now has another flank. Dehadrai has approached the Delhi high court challenging a trial court's order that restricts both parties from publicising the legal proceedings in any form, Bar and Bench reported on Wednesday.
At the heart of it all is Henry, a Rottweiler. Mahua Moitra filed a civil suit in the Saket district court seeking shared custody of the dog following the breakdown of her relationship with Dehadrai.
The HC judge reportedly asked why the parties could not settle the custody dispute out of court. "Why don't you sit together and sort it out?" Justice Manoj Jain observed, as per the report.
Besides the gag order for both parties, the trial court later issued an interim injunction against Dehadrai in particular for a post on X (formerly Twitter) that was seen as a violation.
In his plea to the HC now, Dehadrai argues that the gag order infringes upon his fundamental right to freedom of speech. He also asserts that he should not be silenced from discussing a case he views as “frivolous.”
Representing Dehadrai, Senior Advocate Sanjay Ghose said Dehadrai is aggrieved by the trial court's March 2025 decision to restrict the parties from talking about the case. That order was passed by a Saket court in March 2025 on the suit filed by Moitra.
Dehadrai has contended that this order violates his freedom of speech. He has also argued that the "sweeping gag order" means he cannot even disclose the existence of the custody case to anyone in the public domain.
Dehadrai added that he had earlier posted a tweet on ‘X’ regarding the case without mentioning any case details. However, the trial court found the post to be in violation of its original March order and passed an order restraining him from publishing any remark. Dehdrai said he took down the social media post under protest.
The judge sought Moitra's response and posted it for December 22.
