High Court Orders Congress, AAP to Remove Defamatory Posts

The Delhi High Court directed Congress and AAP to remove social media posts linking BJP's Dushyant Kumar Gautam to the Ankita Bhandari murder case. The court issued an interim order against further defamatory content targeting Gautam and cautioned against irreparable injury if the order was violated.

The Delhi High Court issued a directive on Wednesday requiring the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party to delete social media posts that associate BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam with the 2022 Ankita Bhandari murder case. This decision comes as part of an interim order in a defamation lawsuit filed by Gautam.

The court's ruling, delivered by Justice Mini Pushkarna, also restricts the two political parties from publishing any content targeting the BJP national secretary as the supposed 'VIP' linked to the murder case. Additional interim orders were passed against individuals and groups like Urmila Sanawar and the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee.

Justice Pushkarna emphasized that Gautam had established a prima facie case and that failure to implement an interim order could result in irreparable harm. The posts must be eliminated within 24 hours, or the social media platform will be compelled to remove them according to existing regulations. In the 2022 case, Ankita Bhandari was murdered by Vanantra Resort owner Pulkit Arya and accomplices, all of whom have since been sentenced to life imprisonment.

(With inputs from agencies.)