Goa bar row: Smriti Irani, daughter not owners of restaurant, never applied for licence, notes HC

The Delhi High Court has said that Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh Pawan Khera Netta DSouza along with others conspired to launch a tirade of false scathing and belligerent personal attacks on BJP leader Smriti Irani and her daughter who are neither owners of the restaurant in Goa nor have they ever applied for the licence for food and beverages at the eatery as allegedThe high court said the statement made by three Congress leaders are in the nature of slander and seem to be bogus with malicious intent to intentionally subject Irani to a great public ridicule and to injure the moral character and public image of the BJP leader and her daughterThe remarks were made by the high court while perusing the documents placed before it in a civil defamation suit filed by Irani the Minister for Women and Child Development against the three Congress leadersAlso Read Smriti Irani accuses Sonia Gandhi of sanctioning humiliation of President Droupadi MurmuThe high courts order in which it had on July 29 issued summonses to three Congress leaders on the civil defamation suit was uploaded on the courts website On MondayThe high court has also asked them to take down tweets and other social media posts on allegations levelled against the union minister and her daughterI have perused the various documents on record particularly the show cause notice dated July 21 2022 issued by the Government of Goa office of Commissioner of Excise which has been addressed to one Anthony Dgama and not to the plaintiff Irani or her family membersConsidering the documents on record it is clearly seen that there was no license which was ever issued in favour of the plaintiff or her daughter The plaintiff or her daughter are not the owners of the restaurant It has also been established by the plaintiff prima facie that the plaintiff or her daughter never applied for licenseNeither the restaurant nor the land on which the restaurant exists is owned by the plaintiff or her daughter even the show cause notice issued by the Government of Goa is not in the name of the plaintiff or her daughter All these facts have also been affirmed in the affidavit by the plaintiff Justice Mini Pushkarna said in her 14page orderIrani has filed a defamation suit against the Congress leaders for allegedly making baseless and false accusations against her and her 18yearold daughterThe high court said since the plaintiff commands an esteemed position as a minister in the Government of India and considering the nature of her public office there is immense public glare and scrutiny of any information about her in the public domainDefendant nos1 to 3 Congress leaders have conspired with each other and other individuals and organisations to launch a tirade of false scathing and belligerent personal attacks on the plaintiff and her daughter with a common motive to malign defame and injure the reputation moral character and public image of the plaintiff and her daughter it saidThe high court said it was of the considered view that the statements made by the Congress leaders are in the nature of slander and seem to be bogus with malicious intent only to garner the highest amount of viewership thereby intentionally subjecting the plaintiff to a great public ridiculeIt added that Plaintiff Irani has made out a prima facie case and balance of convenience lies in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendantsThe high court has also passed an interim injunction directing the Congress leaders to remove from social media the allegations made against Irani and her daughterThe court said in case the defendants fail to comply with its directions to remove tweets retweets posts videos and photos from social media concerning the allegations made against Irani and her daughter within 24 hours social media platforms Twitter Facebook and YouTube shall take down the materialIranis action came after the Congress leaders alleged that her daughter Zoish Irani ran a bar illegally in Goa and also targeted the minister over this demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sack her from his CabinetAfter seeing the documents placed on record and the excerpts of the press conference I am of the prima facie view that slanderous and libelous allegations have been made against the plaintiff without verifying actual facts Great injury has been caused to the reputation of the plaintiff and her family in view of the various tweets and retweets which have been followed the press conference carried out by the defendants the judge saidThe high court said there is an imperative need to protect the reputation of an individual least to say that of the plaintiff who is a respected member of the society and esteemed member of the Union Ministry The judge further said I deem it expedient to pass an adinterim injunction directing defendants 13 Congress leaders to delete and remove the allegations video of impugned press conference dated July 23 2022 and the contents linked to the same published against the plaintiff from all the social media platforms namely Youtube Facebook Instagram and Twitter The matter has now been listed for further hearing before the court and registrar on November 15 and August 18 respectivelyThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever