A Bengaluru court on Tuesday directed social media platforms to take down a photograph that had been widely circulated with the false claim that two persons in it were judges of the Supreme Court, Bar and Bench reported.
The photograph was taken at MindEscapes hotel, located in Tamil Nadu’s Nilgiris district. It showed Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiagarajan, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders Prakash Karat, Brinda Karat, NDTV co-founders Prannoy Roy, Radhika Roy, the Hindu Publishing Group’s Director N Ram along with MindEscapes founder Dipali Sikand.
However, the photograph had been shared with the false claim that two of the persons in it were Supreme Court Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala. The two judges had heard suspended Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s petition seeking that all cases filed against her be transferred to Delhi.
The Supreme Court had remarked that Sharma was “single-handedly responsible” for tensions that erupted after she made controversial remarks about Prophet Muhammad.
The false posts shared on social media seemed to suggest the photo is evidence of corruption in the judiciary.
Sikand had approached the additional city civil and sessions court in Bengaluru contending that such false and defamatory posts violated her rights along with those of her guests. The court directed Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp to take down the photograph, Live Law reported.
Sikand named identified Jagadeesh Laxman Singh alias Jugie Singh, Siddharth Dey and Sonalika Kumar as individuals who had put out the posts with the false claim. The court directed them to appear before it on August 18.
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