The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered X and Google to remove the defamatory social media posts against Anjali Birla—an IRPS officer and daughter of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla—alleging that she qualified for the UPSC Civil Services Examination misusing her father’s position.
Issuing an interim injunction order in Birla’s favour, the high court directed X and Google to remove the defamatory postswithin 24 hours and also restrained unknown parties from directly or indirectly posting, circulating, communicating, tweeting or retweeting the alleged defamatory content mentioned by the plaintiff in her defamation suit.
The court further said that if the plaintiff learns of any other similar posts, she shall inform X and Google about them.
The Defamation Suit
Earlier, Anjali Birla filed a defamation suit in the Delhi High Court seeking the removal of social media posts that falsely allege that she passed the UPSC Civil Services Examination on her first attempt misusing the position and influence of her father Om Birla, who is the Lok Sabha speaker.
Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar—who appeared for the plaintiff—sought an urgent hearing, highlighting that there is a deliberate intention to spread false and misleading information on the social media posts, which are defamatory in nature and can harm her reputation.
In her suit, Birla alleged that dissemination of these allegations with no basis in truth, was meant to damage her reputation and standing through false narratives. She also wanted to prevent the defendants from tarnishing the reputation of her father and Speaker of Lok Sabha Om Birla.
Who are the defendants?
The defendants in the case are Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Google Inc, X Corp (formerly Twitter) and John Doe (unnamed party).
Birla, through her representative, filed a complaint before the Inspector General of Police, Cyber Cell, Maharashtra, against several X account holders, known and unknown, for commission of offences punishable under sections 61, 78, 318, 351, 352, 356 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter referred to as BNS) along with Sec.66(C) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 as amended 2008.
Based on the complaint, an FIR was also registered on July 5, 2024, 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 by Cyber Cell, Maharashtra.