The Delhi High Court on Monday observed that courts cannot stop people from mocking public figures unless the statements are insulting or insulting, adding that individuals in the public eye must be prepared to face criticism and occasional blows.
A bench of Justice Tusshar Rao Gidela made the observation while hearing the plea of Patanjali Ayurveda director Acharya Balakrishna seeking protection of his personal rights.
“You have newspapers, you have cartoonists. They make cartoons, they make fun of people, right? Now, can you take that now?” Note the bench. “If you’re going to be a public figure, please be prepared to be attacked as well. People will laugh. We can’t stop that, unless it’s disparaging or something that disrespects or humiliates you.”
This came after Google’s lawyer reported that Balakrishna was seeking the removal of certain news reports, comments and cartoons related to the proceedings against him before the Supreme Court without the collusion of the news organizations concerned and content creators as parties.
The lawyer called the prayer “extremely serious” and said such suits cannot be used to wage a proxy battle against social media intermediaries.
Sure enough, the Supreme Court in August 2024 closed contempt proceedings against yoga proponents Ramdev and Balakrishna after accepting their undertakings to refrain from making misleading advertisements or claims about Patanjali products. The case, filed by the Indian Medical Association in 2022, alleged that Patanjali’s advertisements promising cures for lifestyle diseases violated the Drugs and Cosmetics (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1954.
Senior advocate Arvind Nayar, representing Balakrishna, said content linked to the Supreme Court ruling need not be removed. He added that Balakrishna has a large following in both urban and rural areas, where many people, due to limited digital literacy, may find it difficult to distinguish between authentic material and manipulated content such as deepfakes, fabricated videos, or synthetic voice-overs. However, the senior counsel sought time to obtain instructions from his client regarding the content he wanted removed.
In view of the lawsuit, the court decided to postpone hearing the case until Tuesday.
Meanwhile, another bench, Jyoti Singh, has ordered Indian men’s cricket team coach Gautam Gambhir to withdraw his plea seeking an interim injunction against content that allegedly violates his personal rights. “Counsel for the plaintiff seeks to withdraw this application (interim injunction) with liberty to file a fresh application with the same cause of action with fuller and better particulars. The application is disposed of as withdrawn with liberty to pray for it,” the bench said and posted the order on March 25.
