HC directs Congress leaders to remove defamatory tweets on Smriti Irani

New Delhi, July 29: The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered three Congress leaders to delete, within 24 hours, their tweets, videos and retweets accusing Union Minister Smriti Irani's daughter of running an illegal bar in Goa. The court also issued summons by the Delhi High Court in connection with the Smriti Irani defamation case.

The Congress leaders who are summoned are Pawan Khera, Jairam Ramesh and Netta D'Souza. Union Minister Smriti Irani had filed a civil defamation suit seeking damages of over Rs 2 crore after the three leaders made baseless allegations against her and her daughter.

Justice Mini Pushkarna directed the three Congress leaders to remove tweets, retweets, posts, videos and photos from social media in relation to the allegations made against Irani, who is holding the portfolio of Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Minority Affairs, and her daughter.

The court said in case the defendants fail to comply with its directions within 24 hours, social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and YouTube shall take down the material.

Reacting to the court order Jairam Ramesh said that he will present the facts before the court.

"The Delhi High Court has issued notice asking us to formally reply to the case filed by Smriti Irani. We look forward to presenting the facts before the court. We will challenge and disprove the spin being put out by Ms. Irani," tweets Congress leader Jairam Ramesh

Irani's action came after the Congress leaders alleged that her 18-year-old daughter Zoish Irani ran a bar illegally in Goa and also targeted the minister over this, demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi sack her from his Cabinet.

Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera told the media that Irani's daughter is allegedly running a restaurant in Goa, in which a bar is functioning on a "fake licence".

"The licence by Smriti Irani's daughter is in the name of a person who died in May 2021, and the licence was taken in June 2022 in Goa. But the person in whose name the licence is, had died 13 months ago. This is illegal," PTI reported him as saying.