Delhi High Court Issues Notice On Activist's Plea To Vacate Injunction Over Posts Linking Hardeep Puri's Daughter To Epstein

The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice on a plea filed by Kunal Shukla, a Raipur based social activist, seeking vacation of the injunction order directing him to take down posts linking Himayani Puri, Union Minister Hardeep Puri's daughter, to American financier and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Justice Mini Pushkarna sought response of Puri to the vacation application.

The Court also asked Puri to file rejoinder to Shukla's reply to the interim injunction application filed in the suit.

Justice Pushkarna clarified that she will her the vacation application as well as the interim injunction application together and listed the matter for hearing on May 07.

Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appeared for Shukla. Puri was represented by Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani. 

It is Shukla's case that the injunction order was passed without prior notice and without there any opportunity to submit any defence or place any reply or document on record.

He has said that he asked questions of public importance regarding functioning of public servants and there can be no restrain on such free speech, that too without trial.

Shukla is represented by Senior Advocates Vikas Singh, Sudhir Nandrajog along with Advocates Mayank Jain, Madhur Jain, Harshwardhan Parghania and Arpit Goel.

For context, Shukla had filed an appeal against the injunction order before a division bench which directed the single judge to hear both the sides and decide the vacation application as expeditiously as possible.

On March 17, the single judge had orderedsocial media platforms like Twitter, Google, YouTube, Meta and LinkedIn and other john doe entities to take down the allegedly defamatory content against the Cabinet Minister's daughter.

The judge however clarified that for the time being the Court will consider take down of content in India alone, since the 'global takedown' aspect is pending before a division bench of the High Court.

Puri had filed a Rs. 10 crore defamation suit seeking john doe order for taking down of the content.

Defendants 1-14 have been named in the suit and include journalists and social media platforms. Defendants 15-18 are government authorities. The remaining defendants are john doe (unidentifiable).

As per the suit, a coordinated and malicious online campaign has been orchestrated by the Defendants, purporting to link her to Jeffrey Epstein and his criminal activities.

She has said that the impugned publications continue to remain live, accessible, and widely circulated across social media, causing sustained reputational damage to her.

Title: Kunal Shukla v. Himayani Puri & Ors