Latest news with #Newslaundry
New Indian Express
27-05-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Delhi HC issues summons to Abhijit Iyer Mitra in defamation case by women journalists
NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court on Monday issued summons to political commentator Abhijit Iyer-Mitra in connection with a Rs 2 crore defamation suit filed by Newslaundry Executive Editor Manisha Pande and eight other women journalists. The suit pertains to a series of tweets where Iyer-Mitra allegedly labelled the journalists as 'prostitutes'. Mitra's Advocate Percival Billimoria told that all the contentious tweets had been removed. But counsel for the journalists, Bani Dikshit, countered that deleting the posts did not reflect genuine regret. 'There's no sign of remorse. In fact, he continues to post poetic remarks on the issue,' she said. Despite these, Billimoria sought dismissal of the case. However, the bench declined to be drawn into unrelated allegations. 'This case is strictly about the posts. If there are other concerns, they must be pursued separately,' the judge said. Dikshit informed that her clients intended to pursue damages, along with an injunction to prevent any future defamatory content. Justice ordered issuance of summons and maintained the interim relief in favour of the journalists.
Hindustan Times
27-05-2025
- Hindustan Times
Delhi HC summons defendant in Newslaundry defamation case
New Delhi The Delhi high court on Monday issued a summons to Delhi-based defence analyst Abhijit Iyer Mitra in a defamation suit filed by nine women employees of digital news platform Newslaundry for his allegedly sexually abusive social media posts. The suit stems from a series of tweets posted by Mitra from February to April in which he allegedly made derogatory posts about the digital platform's women employees, their workplace and subscribers. A bench of justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav passed the direction after the women employees, including company managing editor Manisha Pande, submitted that Mitra has not shown remorse even after taking down his tweets. They have even sought damages against Mitra. The women employees, represented by advocate Bani Dixit, also urged the court to permanently restrain Mitra from posting against them. Senior advocate Percival Billimoria, appearing for Mitra, urged the court to dismiss the suit since the cause no longer survived after he had taken down the allegedly defamatory content. On May 21, Mitra gave an undertaking to court to take down the posts within five hours, after the judge slammed him for his language. The court said that the 'choice of words' was 'impermissible in civilized society'. The senior counsel further argued that the posts were not defamatory. The bench said, 'You have to stick to the point. Today we can't look at your written statement. Today it's between the plaintiff and the court. Since the defamatory material has been taken down, what remains is the compensation. We'll issue summons.' The order said, 'The aforesaid aspects (regarding Mitra's defence) will be looked into at the time of submissions. The interim order, which the court has passed, will continue.' While fixing September 10 as the next date of hearing, the court also granted the women employees the liberty to file an application, in case Mitra posted further allegedly defamatory content. 'In the meantime any further defamatory statement or content is published by defendant no 1, the plaintiffs will be at liberty to file appropriate application,' the court said. In the suit, seeking ₹2 crore in damages and an unconditional apology, the women employees alleged that Mitra falsely and maliciously labelled them using derogatory terms and slurs, posted obscene poems undermining their dignity and also launched a scathing attack against the platform's subscribers. 'Even a bare perusal for the allegations and insinuations, which have been tabulated in the plaint in detail, leave not an iota of doubt that these are capable of causing inordinate corrosion of the reputation and goodwill of the plaintiffs that has been arduously built over a period of years. Furthermore, the libelous and unsubstantiated allegations by the defendant No.1 (Mitra) will not only directly and adversely affect the reputation of the plaintiffs amongst their friends, family and peers, but has caused enormous mental trauma, harassment and embarrassment,' they said in the suit. The suit went on to add that terms used by Mitra were not only an insult and attack on women journalists, but reinforced deeply regressive and violent attitudes toward sex workers, who face systemic marginalisation and stigma. 'No woman/ person deserves to be dehumanised. No profession deserves to be weaponized as an insult. These remarks strip women—whether journalists or sex workers—of agency, identity, and respect,' they said in the suit. Seeking takedown of the tweets, the suit states that the publications do not fall within the purview of 'free speech' 'journalistic criticism' 'satire' or fair comments and were rather a sexist slur aimed at humiliating the women professionals of Newslaundry.
Scroll.in
26-05-2025
- Climate
- Scroll.in
Rush Hour: Mumbai rains break 107-year record for May, Delhi HC summons Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, and more
We're building a brand-new studio to bring you bold ground reports, sharp interviews, hard-hitting podcasts, explainers and more. Support Scroll's studio fund today. Mumbai has received its highest rainfall for the month of May in 107 years. The India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert warning of extremely heavy rains in the city. The southwest monsoon arrived in Maharashtra on Sunday, in what was the earliest onset of the season in the state in 35 years. The department's Colaba observatory in South Mumbai has logged 295 mm so far this month, surpassing the previous high of 279.4 mm recorded in May 1918. Operations on Mumbai Metro Line 3, the city's first fully underground Metro corridor, were partially suspended after heavy rains flooded the under-construction Acharya Atre Chowk underground station. The second phase of the Metro line had been inaugurated just 17 days earlier. Heavy rainfall also lashed Kerala, prompting the weather agency to issue a red alert for 11 districts. The rains led to several residents being evacuated to relief camps and safer areas in the districts of Wayanad and Kozhikode. A holiday for educational institutions was declared in 10 districts of Kerala as a precautionary measure. Read on. The Assam Police detained several Muslim residents of the state on suspicion of being undocumented migrants from Bangladesh. Many of them were released more than 15 hours later, once their documents were verified. The detention drive was carried out mostly in the Muslim neighbourhoods of Guwahati, including Hatigaon, Sijubari, Ghoramara and Sonapur. While the police are yet to confirm the number of detentions, a senior official told Scroll that the 'number of people picked up is well below 100'. One of those detained, Hannan Ahmed, has a voter identity card and his name, along with those of his parents, is in the 2019 National Register of Citizens. Hannan was released by the police around 7 pm. This came against the backdrop of reports alleging that Indian authorities had forced persons, including Rohingya refugees, into Bangladesh and Myanmar. Read on. Newslaundry filed against him for making sexually abusive remarks about them. On May 21, Iyer-Mitra took down the remarks he had posted on social media between February and April after the High Court reprimanded him. Nevertheless, the plaintiffs told the court that they wanted to go ahead with the case, after which the summons were issued. Nine Newslaundry employees have filed a defamation suit seeking a public apology and Rs 2 crore in damages from Iyer-Mitra, a columnist at pro-Bharatiya Janata Party outlet OpIndia. Their lawyer told the court on Monday that although he took down the social media posts, he had shown 'absolutely no remorse'. More on Scroll. The National Investigation Agency has arrested a member of the Central Reserve Police Force for allegedly sharing sensitive information with Pakistani intelligence officials. A court in Delhi sent him to the custody of the agency till June 6. The National Investigation Agency accused the CRPF member, Assistant Sub-Inspector Moti Ram Jat, of passing on classified information to Pakistani intelligence officers, since 2023 in exchange for money. The Central Reserve Police Force dismissed the assistant sub-inspector from service following the allegations.
Indian Express
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Defamation suit: Delhi HC issues summons to Abhijit Iyer Mitra as Newslaundry, women journalists seek compensation
The Delhi High Court on Monday issued summons to analyst and commentator Abhijit Iyer Mitra in a defamation suit filed by women journalists of Newslaundry after the plaintiffs clarified that though the statements have been taken down, they want to pursue the suit for compensation. Mitra's counsel, meanwhile, implored Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav to dismiss the suit with costs. The case against Mitra was filed by nine journalists of Newslaundry, as well as the organisation, accusing him of defaming them through a series of posts that used abusive language, and seeking damages of Rs 2 crore. Justice Kaurav had, on May 21, criticised the language used by Mitra in his posts and directed him to take down the alleged defamatory posts within five hours, while noting that such statements 'are not permissible in any civilised society'. On Monday, Justice Kaurav initially proposed disposing of the suit since Mitra had taken down the alleged defamatory material on an undertaking and not pursuant to a court's direction. He orally inquired from the plaintiffs' counsels, 'Once these posts are deleted, what remains?… In this case, defendant (Mitra) himself came forward, he admitted (to the mistake) and deleted it… Had he invited a court order (for taking down the posts), position (in adjudicating the suit) may have been a little different… In this case injunction application has not been adjudicated on merits… Why to keep this matter pending?' Denying that the posts which were taken down were defamatory, senior advocate Percival Bilimoria, appearing for Mitra, told the court, 'I'm pressing for this application to be dismissed with cost and an investigation in to this channel.' However, Justice Kaurav remarked that the remedy for requesting an investigation 'lies elsewhere' and not within the adjudication of a defamation suit. The court also remarked to Mitra's counsels: 'Since you realised where the lakshman rekha lies, your client will be well advised to maintain that…' Meanwhile, the plaintiffs informed the court that they want to pursue the aspect of claiming compensation, as mentioned in their suit. Addressing Mitra's counsel, Justice Kaurav orally instructed, 'They (plaintiffs) say there's loss of reputation, so you file your written statements.' The court then directed that the matter be placed before the joint registrar for completion of pleadings by both parties.
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Defamation suit by women journos: Delhi HC asks Abhijit Iyer Mitra to not cross 'laxman rekha'; issues summons
The Delhi High Court issued summons to commentator Abhijit Iyer Mitra on Monday on a lawsuit by nine women journalists alleging defamation and asked him to be mindful of 'laxman rekha' while exercising his right to speech. Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav asked Mitra to give his written submissions in the case filed by journalists from media house Newslaundry and also sought the stand of social media platform X. The plaintiffs alleged that Mitra used "derogatory terms and slurs" while making "defamatory, false, malicious and unsubstantiated allegations" on X. Justice Kaurav noted that while the entire alleged defamatory content had been deleted by Mitra following certain remarks by the court last week, the plaintiffs sought further directions to restrain him. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:-:- Loaded : 0% 0:00:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - -:-:- 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track default , selected Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play War Thunder now for free War Thunder Play Now Undo "Having considered the nature of the submissions by the plaintiff, the court deems it appropriate to direct issuance of summons to the defendants," the court said. "We are not restraining you (Mitra) (but) where laxman rekha lies, you must understand. So long as you continue to use your right to speech... when it becomes defamatory, the plaintiff will be at liberty to come back to court," the judge stated. Live Events Advocates Bani Dikshit and Farman Ali, representing the plaintiffs, asserted that Mitra has shown "no remorse" for his posts. Mitra's senior counsel Percival Billimoria said the content was not defamatory and was taken down in deference to the court's observations and the lawsuit should be dismissed. The court's order on removal has been complied with, he said. He also urged the court to order an investigation against the "most insidious" media platform. The court, however, said, "If you want investigation against the channel, the remedy lies elsewhere". The court said its earlier order on removal of the content was without prejudice to the rights of the parties but would continue to remain in force and asked the plaintiff to "come back" if similar objectionable content was posted in future. In the lawsuit, the women journalists have sought an injunction, a written apology and Rs 2 crore in damages from Mitra. They claimed that Mitra launched a series of scathing and belligerent attacks against them in his posts. On May 21, the court rapped Mitra for his allegedly abusive remarks and asked him to remove the posts within five hours. The court had orally stated that a person who dared to use such "uncivilised language" in their posts should not be heard unless it was taken down. The matter would be heard next in September.
