Case against Sardesai: BJP leader Shazia Ilmi fined Rs 25K for suppressing tweets

The Delhi High Court on Friday imposed a cost of Rs 25,000 on BJP leader Shazia Ilmi for suppressing tweets in her defamation suit against journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.

The case arose from Sardesai’s comments on X about a video recorded after Ilmi left a live debate on India Today TV.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora partly allowed Ilmi’s plea for interim relief, but penalised her for “willfully suppressing two tweets which formed part of the same conversation thread” as the one in question. The court ordered Ilmi to pay the amount to the Delhi High Court Bar Clerks’ Association within three weeks.

The court upheld its previous order directing the removal of an 18-second video clip that showed an altercation between Ilmi and a video journalist after she exited the debate.

“This court finds that indeed the right of privacy of the plaintiff was violated, but only with respect to the 18 seconds footage...as the plaintiff did not consent to the said recording,” it said.

However, it dismissed Ilmi’s claim that her modesty had been outraged by the journalist. “The allegation...is an afterthought,” the court noted, adding that she had not objected to it in the tweets she had suppressed. It also stated, “The said video footage was telecasted on national television contemporaneously on the date of live debate.”

The court further rejected Ilmi’s claim that the video shared by Sardesai was doctored. It examined his tweet and held that he was not justified in alleging Ilmi had “chucked the mic” and “thrown” the journalist out of her house. The court did not strike down the phrases “abuse our journalist” and “no excuse for bad behaviour,” saying they had “some basis.”

Regarding Sardesai’s tweet, the court said it was “not being published as a journalistic piece of news” but was “in the nature of the personal comment... albeit with the express approval of defendant No. 2 (India Today).”

The spat began on July 26, 2024, after Ilmi clashed with Sardesai and retired Major General Yash Mor during a debate on the Agnipath scheme.