Bombay High Court says social media not a licence for defamation, asks Salman Khan’s neighbour to delete posts

The bench suggested that Kakkad consider deleting the content and posted the matter for further hearing on July 6. Representational Pic

Access to social media does not entitle anyone to post defamatory content, including against celebrities, the Bombay High Court observed on Thursday, while asking Salman Khan's Panvel farmhouse neighbour to consider deleting his posts against the actor.

A single bench of Justice Sharmila Deshmukh questioned why anyone should upload such content on social media instead of addressing their grievances with the concerned authorities.

Ketan Kakkad owns the property adjoining Khan's farmhouse at Panvel in Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai township.

He had alleged that the actor violated environmental norms during the construction of his farmhouse and blocked access to the neighbour's property. Kakkad also claimed to have approached authorities on the issue, but no action was taken.

Khan later filed a defamation suit against Kakkad, claiming he had uploaded videos and other content on social media about the actor's activities at his farmhouse. He claimed the posts were defamatory.

The actor sought the court's direction to Kakkad to remove the defamatory videos that he had uploaded and also to stop him from making such comments further. When a civil court refused to pass such an order, he approached the High Court.

Khan, in his plea in the High Court, said the posts uploaded by Kakkad were not only defamatory in nature but also communally provocative.

On Thursday, the plea came up for hearing before Justice Sharmila Deshmukh, who questioned why anyone should upload such videos and content on social media instead of taking up their grievance with the concerned authorities.

"Just because one has access to social media does not mean they can upload videos about any person, whether a common citizen or a celebrity, merely to defame them. Why upload such videos on social media?" Justice Deshmukh said.

The court also wondered whether judicial time should be spent deciding whether a particular social media post is defamatory and should be deleted.

The bench suggested that Kakkad consider deleting the content and posted the matter for further hearing on July 6.

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