Delhi high court: Can’t allow freedom of speech to violate rights

NEW DELHI: Freedom of speech cannot be permitted to violate rights of citizens, specially political functionaries who spend their lifetime on building their image in public, the Delhi high court has said while restraining AAP MLA and Rajasthan election in-charge Vinay Mishra from posting controversial statements against RLP MP Hanuman Beniwal till further orders.
In an interim order delivered on June 13, Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta directed Twitter to remove all posts related to the matter and said that the tweets prima facie appeared to be libelous, defamatory and reckless in the absence of any supporting material.

On June 6, Beniwal had decided to support BJP-backed Independent candidate Subhash Chandra in the RS polls scheduled for June 10. In response, Mishra put out a series of tweets, accusing Beniwal and the saffron party of corruption and horse-trading.
The HC said if the tweets are permitted to continue on record, “it is likely to further blemish the reputation and goodwill of the plaintiffs and may cause misimpression in the trust of the voters/supporters of the party or common citizens of the country in the absence of any cogent evidence”.
“It cannot be ruled out that the tweets may have been actuated by malice, with an attempt to impact the Rajya Sabha elections, which were scheduled for 10th June, 2022,” the HC said.