New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has awarded ₹5 lakh in compensation to TV Today for defamatory tweets aimed at the channel and its journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, following an interview with actress Rhea Chakraborty aired in 2020 [TV Today Network v. Anurag Srivastava and anr].
Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav held that the tweets were highly defamatory and ordered ₹5 lakh in compensation to TV Today to redress the reputational damage caused.
“The Court finds that the objectionable tweets were highly defamatory and remain unsubstantiated by the defendant, despite having been afforded sufficient opportunity to do so Such an irresponsible act of the defendant has to be deprecated … Having considered the overall circumstances, this Court deems it just and proper to award ₹5,00,000 as general compensatory damages to the plaintiff, to redress the reputational harm, emotional hardship, and loss of professional credibility caused by the conduct of the defendant,” the September 3 order said.
Srivastava later deleted the tweets and assured the Court that he would not repost them. The Court has now ordered that ₹5 lakh be paid to compensate TV Today for the derogatory content.
Advocates Hrishikesh Baruah, Utkarsh Dwivedi, Kumar Kishitij, and Anurag Mishra represented TV Today.
