Recently, the Delhi High Court granted interim relief to Himayani Puri in a defamation suit seeking removal of online content falsely linking her to Jeffrey Epstein. The Court directed major social media and digital platforms to take down the impugned material within India, signalling judicial readiness to curb reputational harm arising from viral misinformation while the issue of global takedown remains under consideration.
The dispute arose from a series of online posts, videos, and articles circulating across platforms such as Meta, Google, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter, allegedly associating the plaintiff with Epstein and his criminal network. Claiming a coordinated attempt to malign her reputation, the plaintiff sought a Rs.10 crore damages claim along with a “John Doe” injunction to restrain unknown entities from further dissemination.
While the plaintiff argued that such content, especially if uploaded from India, warranted a global takedown, intermediaries opposed the plea, maintaining that their compliance obligations extend only within territorial jurisdiction and that the broader issue is pending adjudication before a division bench.
Justice Mini Pushkarna found a prima facie case in favour of the plaintiff and granted an interim injunction restraining publication and circulation of the defamatory content within India. The Court drew a clear jurisdictional line, observing that “considering that the matter regarding injunction at global level is subject matter of Division Bench, orders in that regard may not be passed,” while directing platforms to remove or block access to the identified content within 24 hours.
It further allowed the plaintiff to notify platforms of additional offending links for prompt action, ensuring dynamic enforcement of the order.
Picture Source :
