The Delhi High Court issued an order on Monday ordering the removal of defamatory social media posts about Anjali Birla, daughter of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, that claimed she passed the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams on her first try due to her father’s influence.
Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar filed an urgent application, and Justice Navin Chawla presided over the hearing.
During the hearings, the judge ordered X Corp. and Google to take down the disputed social media information within 24 hours. Justice Chawla also prohibited unidentified individuals from directly or indirectly posting, circulating, communicating, tweeting, or retweeting the claimed defamatory content stated in Anjali’s defamation lawsuit.
In addition, the high court served notifications on X Corp., Google, the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, and other parties to the claim, requesting a response within four weeks. The next hearing is planned for October 15.
The next hearing on the subject is set on October 15.
Anjali Birla, a current Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) officer, has launched a defamation lawsuit against the dissemination of inaccurate and false information about her, which she claims is defamatory.
Her counsel emphasized that she took the UPSC Central Services Exam (CSE) in 2019 and was selected for the consolidated reserve list, after which she joined the Indian Railways as an IRPS officer.
Following Om Birla’s election as Speaker of the 18th Lok Sabha, and in the midst of the NEET paper leak incident, various internet posts suggesting Anjali got her IAS position because of her father’s “powerful position” went viral on social media.
In her defamation lawsuit, Anjali denied the charges, claiming that the social media pages implicated are part of a coordinated campaign to discredit her and her father. She also identified 16 social media identities, including a parody account linked to YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, against whom legal action has been taken, according to a Bar and Bench report.