Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D’Souza have told the Delhi High Court that they have filed a complaint against Union Minister Smriti Irani on the basis of several and repeated posts allegedly “acknowledging ownership or connection” by her and her family. were accused. In a general written statement filed in response to a defamation suit filed by restaurant Irani in Goa, Congress leaders claimed that she made “impartial remarks” in the public interest and it was the moral and constitutional duty of the opposition to respond to members of the ruling government. ,
Irani has filed a lawsuit against Congress leaders for allegedly leveling baseless and false allegations against herself and her 18-year-old daughter. The Congress leaders alleged that the trial was an abuse of the process of law and the minister willfully and willfully suppressed documents, information and linkages and deliberately placed distorted and fabricated facts before the court.
The statement said that the BJP leaders have miserably failed to show any pre-planned conspiracy being hatched by the Congress leaders. The responding defendants (Congress leaders) made allegations on the basis of several and repeated positions by the plaintiff (Irani) acknowledging ownership/affiliation by himself and his family. (restaurant).
“These declarations have been public for several months and Plaintiff has not taken any steps to correct this record if it was incorrect. In fact, to the contrary, Plaintiffs shared social media posts and endorsed materials,” it said. . The High Court had on July 29 summoned three Congress leaders in a civil defamation case and also asked them to delete tweets and other social media posts on the allegations leveled against the Union minister and his daughter.
Congress leaders said that despite the various misleading statements in the plaintiffs, it is pertinent to mention that the plaintiff himself acknowledged the existence of an old social media post that has been “very easily suppressed” by the court. It is social media posts and other relevant material available in the public domain, the subject matter of which constitutes a clear relationship between the restaurant and plaintiff and his family members, the written statement said.
The statements made by responding to the Respondents clearly fall within the purview of ‘fair comment’, as the statements were made in the public interest and with respect to a public issue, i.e. a restaurant being operated on a renewed license in the name of . dead person and being obtained through fraud. “With all the above evidence linking the plaintiff to the restaurant being available in the public domain, it was in the public interest to make unbiased remarks and to question the plaintiff on his relationship with the restaurant,” it claimed.
Congress leaders submitted that Women and Child Development Minister Irani had no prima facie case for imposing an interim stay and the balance of convenience is also not in her favor as she has clearly misled the court and in the process Tried to restrain the responding respondents from expressing their concern on matters of public importance. He said that it is clear that the BJP leader has sought relief for his family members, however, neither the family members have been implicated nor he has made any application or suit to represent the interests of his family members. has been filed.
It is humbly submitted that the respondent responders are also citizens of India, and they expect the Council of Ministers to be advising the Prime Minister to be above board and not to indulge in illegal activities. In view of the same, the defendants raised questions which remain unanswered till date, the statement said and sought quashing of the suit and the cost of the trial in their favour. The high court had earlier noted in its order that Irani and her daughter are neither owners of restaurants in Goa nor have they ever applied for licenses for food and beverages, as Congress leaders told a press conference in July. I was accused of.
The court also passed an interim order directing Congress leaders to remove the allegations leveled against Irani and her daughter from social media. The court said that if the defendants fail to comply with its directions to remove tweets, retweets, posts, videos and photos from social media in relation to the allegations leveled against Irani and her daughter within 24 hours, the social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and YouTube will remove the content.
Irani’s action came after Congress targeted her daughter Joish Irani and demanded the minister’s sacking. The Union minister approached the court after Congress leaders failed to respond to the legal notices sent to him.
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