"Defamatory": Delhi High Court Directs Twitter To Take Down 5 More Tweets Posted By Historian Audrey Truschke Against Vikram Sampath

The Delhi High Court has directed micro blogging site Twitter to take down five more tweets posted by historian Audrey Truschke against historian Dr. Vikram Sampath over alleged plagiarism with respect to his two-volume biography of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Justice Amit Bansal was of the view that the tweets in question were defamatory in nature and that there was a link posted in the said tweets to the letters, the publication of which was injuncted by the Court vide orders dated 18th February, 2022 and 24th February, 2022.

The Court was dealing with an application filed on behalf of Sampath under Order XXXIX Rule 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 seeking a direction for taking down of further defamatory tweets posted by Truschke on Twitter.

Previously also, in February this year, the Court had ordered taking down of some tweets made by Truschke against Sampath.

The suit was filed by Sampath against Audrey Truschke and other persons over a letter sent by them to Royal Historical Society raising allegations of plagiarism against him with respect to a journal publication and his two-volume biography of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and some alleged defamatory tweets made pursuant thereto.

The suit had stated that Historian Audrey Truschke and other persons namely Ananya Chakravarti and Rohit Chopra wrote the letter dated February 11 to Royal Historical Society in London raising serious allegations of plagiarism.

"Despite ad interim injunction passed by this Court vide orders 18th February, 2022 and 24th February, 2022, the defendant no.1 continues to post defamatory material against the plaintiff on the platform of the defendant no. 4/Twitter," the Court noted.

Further noting that Truschke had failed to enter appearance before the Court, the Bench was of the view that a prima facie case is made out on behalf of Sampath.

"In view of the fact that the defendant no.1 has not submitted to the jurisdiction of this Court and is not appearing in these proceedings, the defendant no.4/Twitter is directed to take down the following tweets as mentioned in prayer 'a' of the present application," the Court said.

The matter will now be heard on July 28.

Earlier, the Court had restrained Dr. Audrey Truschke and other persons from publishing any defamatory material against Sampath on Twitter as well as other online or offline platforms.

The Court had also restrained the defendants from publishing the letter dated February 11 addressed to Royal Historical Society in London raising serious allegations of plagiarism against Sampath.

The suit sought decree of permanent injunction against the aforementioned defendants to cease the publication of Letter or any other defamatory material. It also sought damage of Rs. 2 crore from the said defendants.

Case Title: DR. VIKRAM SAMPATH v. DR. AUDREY TRUSCHKE & ORS

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Del) 404

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