On 20th September 2021, the Bombay High Court while hearing the suit filed by Shilpa Shetty expressed concern over the effect of the defamatory Media reports on her minor children after the arrest of her husband Raj Kundra who is a businessman.
The actor’s husband was arrested in July in relation to the production and distribution of pornographic content and movies.
COURT’S JUDGEMENT IN JULY
Shilpa Shetty had filed a suit in July against the media for publishing “incorrect, false, malicious and defamatory” material about her and her family as a result of her husband getting arrested.
In July, the Court held that such a blanket ban on the Media cannot be ordered for reporting anything against the actor. However, three videos on the platform YouTube were ordered to be removed.
CONTENTIONS OF THE PLAINTIFF
The plaintiff’s counsel, Abhinav Chandrachud held that they were having discussions with most of the defendants who are media outlets and private persons running blogs and vlogs, he also informed the Court that the defendants have agreed to remove posts that are objectionable and defamatory.
COURT’S OBSERVATIONS
The Court has directed the plaintiff to divide the defendants into two categories- the traditional media outlets and the private vloggers.
Justice Gautam Patel, explaining the reason behind this segregation stated that the traditional media will understand the rationale and the advice of the Court, however, they cannot guarantee the same for private vloggers and bloggers.
Justice Patel questioned the counsel that why was his client in a rush for the plea to be heard as the matter related to Raj Kundra is still pertinent and might continue for some more time and therefore, she would not be able to get a permanent injunction.
RATIONALE OF THE JUDGE
The Hon’ble Judge held that he was concerned for the actor’s minor children rather than the actor since she can handle herself, but the children, unfortunately, become the main focus in such cases and therefore, media reports regarding the actor’s personal life are of major concern at this time.
The Court has set the date for further hearing to be on 1st October 2021.
