The Delhi High Court summoned Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera, and Netta D’Souza on Friday in a civil defamation suit filed by Union Minister Smriti Irani over the alleged Goa bar controversy involving her daughter. The case will now be heard on August 18. A bench led by Justice Mini Pushkarna also ordered all respondents to delete the defamatory tweets immediately and issued summonses for August 18. During the hearing, the court ordered Khera to remove ‘defamatory tweets’ as soon as possible.
During the arguments, Smriti Irani informed the court, through her counsel, that her daughter Zoish has no connection to the alleged bar and that statements made by Congress leaders are defamatory, and she sought Rs 2 crores in damages.
In her decision, Justice Mini Pushkarna stated, ‘The applicant has made out a prima facie case, and the balance of convenience is in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendants. I believe it is appropriate to issue an interim injunction directing defendants 1–3 to delete and remove the allegations made during the press conference from all social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. They are also directed to remove the posts, videos, tweets, retweets, and morphed pictures of the plaintiff and her daughter, as well as the allegations, and to stop their recirculation. If defendants 1–3 fail to comply with the directions within 24 hours of this order, defendants 4–6 [social media platforms] are directed to remove the material’.
Soon after the order, Jairam Ramesh tweeted, ‘The Delhi High Court has issued a notice requiring us to formally respond to Smriti Irani’s case. We are eager to present the facts to the court. We will challenge and refute Ms. Irani’s spin’. The Congress party claims Zoish Irani was running an illegal bar in Goa and using her political clout to harass Excise Commissioner Narayan M Gad, who has served a show-cause notice on the unit for July 29.
The three party leaders claimed that the licence was only for running a restaurant, but Irani’s daughter used her political clout to obtain licences in February last year to serve foreign, Indian-made foreign, and country liquor, all in the name of a deceased person. Last month, she even had her licence renewed. Khera also stated last week that the licence obtained by Zoish was obtained in the name of a person who died 13 months ago. ‘Both she and her daughter must be very sanskari. Your party’s members are obsessed with Lulu Mall and Hanuman Chalisa, and her children have involved in corruption thanks to her support. This restaurant is not even licenced under the restaurant policy,’ Khera had said.
Congress also shared a copy of the show cause notice issued to the bar, noting that it is a ‘very serious issue,’ and said the excise official who issued the notice is reportedly being transferred due to pressure from authorities. In response to the allegations, Zoish called them ‘baseless’ and stated that she was neither the owner nor the operator of the restaurant, according to the news agency PTI.
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