A 25 year-old YouTuber, Rizwan Siddique who was served a defamation notice of Rs.500 Crore by actor Akshay Kumar for posting content making allegations relating to the actor in the Sushant Singh Rajput Death case has replied to the same, denying all allegations.
In addition to this, he also asked the actor to withdraw the said notice stating that it is based on a flawed premise.
The YouTuber said that much of the content posted on his channel that was against Akshay Kumar was already in public domain and posted by other channels on Youtube.
Advocate JP Jayswal who was representing Siddique, stated the following-
“Before publishing the content on the website, the internet was flooded with similar content qua your client in the public domain. My client has taken leeds from these websites running similar content which was much before my client published the alleged content online."
"My client has a detailed list of websites running similar content which was much before my client published the alleged content online.All the content of mentioning your client was already in public domain and publishing similar content on the channel will not amount to defamation as alleged by your client.”, he added.
He further added that apart from news channels, several “independent reporters” started reporting on the Sushant Singh case.
The reply stated-
“The allegations made against my client are denied. All the above information/content provided by my client in the videos uploaded by him on the channel.
Your client has faced severe backlash after interviewing an influential politician whereby thousands of people have made personal remarks against your client on various YouTube videos and websites. Surprisingly, your client has not taken any action on the same: however, he has selectively chosen my client to saddle the blame of defamation.”
Finally, Siddique has sought the notice to be withdrawn stating that it was based on a flawed premised and threatened Kumar with further legal action
“Your client’s claim of Rs. 500 crores is nothing but a publicity gimmick and the claim of such an amount without any proof clearly establishes as it is an arm-twisting tactic adopted by your client to stop my client to further publish new content. The damages of Rs. 500 crores are absurd and are unwarranted and are made with intent to pressurize my client.”, Siddique's lawyer added.
