The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued a significant order in the case of Anjali Birla, an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer and daughter of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The court directed X (formerly Twitter) and Google to remove defamatory social media posts that falsely alleged Birla had misutilized her father’s position to qualify for the UPSC Civil Services Examination.
This interim injunction order in favor of Birla mandates the removal of the defamatory content within 24 hours. The court also restrained unknown parties from directly or indirectly posting, circulating, communicating, tweeting, or retweeting the alleged defamatory material mentioned in Birla’s defamation suit. The court further clarified that if Birla discovers any similar posts, she is to inform X and Google.
The defamation suit stems from a series of social media posts claiming that Birla cleared the UPSC Civil Services Examination on her first attempt by leveraging her father’s influence and position as the Lok Sabha speaker. Birla, through her legal representative, Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar, sought an urgent hearing, emphasizing the malicious intent behind these false and misleading posts that aimed to damage her reputation. She argued that these baseless allegations were intended to tarnish her reputation and standing through fabricated narratives. Furthermore, she sought to prevent the defendants from sullying the reputation of her father, Om Birla, the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
The defendants in this case include the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Google Inc, X Corp (formerly Twitter), and John Doe (an unnamed party). Birla, through her representative, had previously filed a complaint with the Inspector General of Police, Cyber Cell, Maharashtra, against several X account holders, both known and unknown. The complaint alleged offenses under sections 61, 78, 318, 351, 352, 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as BNS), along with Section 66(C) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 as amended 2008. Based on this complaint, an FIR was registered on July 5, 2024, by the Cyber Cell, Maharashtra, under sections 78, 79, 318(2), 352, 356(2), 353(2), and 3(5) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita Act, 2023, along with section 66 (C) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, as amended 2008, against X Corp and others.
