Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's daughter wins case in Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday confirmed an interim order directing the takedown of defamatory social media posts which claimed that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's daughter, Anjali Birla, had cleared her Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams on her first attempt because of her father's influence..The interim order was issued on July 23, 2024, directing Google and X (formerly Twitter) to take down such posts within 24 hours. The Court had reasoned that there was a prima facie case in favour of Anjali Birla, who is an Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) officer.At the time, the Court also restrained unknown persons (John Doe defendants) from making defamatory allegations against Birla in relation to the issue. On Tuesday, Justice Jyoti Singh confirmed these directives.“This suit is decreed in favour of the Plaintiff (Anjali Birla) directing Defendants No. 1 and 2 to take down/remove the social media posts, whose access has already been blocked pursuant to the interim injunction granted by this Court vide order dated 23.07.2024,” the Court stated. .Claims that Anjali Birla became an IAS officer because of her father's "powerful position" went viral on social media soon after Om Birla's election as Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the eruption of the NEET UG paper leak controversy. Several social media posts alleged that Anjali Birla is a model by profession, and that it was because of her father's "powerful position" that she cleared the UPSC exams on her very first attempt. However, Anjali Birla rubbished the claims and said that these social media handles were "being operated in a pre-planned conspiracy" and guided by motives to defame her and her father. Contrary to the claims made in the social media posts, Birla is not in the IAS but is an IRPS officer. She appeared for the UPSC exams in 2019 and joined the commission in April 2021. She completed her compulsory training last year..She eventually filed a plea before the High Court seeking the takedown of defamatory posts against her. She provided details of 16 X accounts against whom relief was sought, including a parody account of YouTuber Dhruv Rathee. .Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar appeared for Birla. Yesterday, he informed the Court that after its interim order, the intermediaries (X and Google) have taken down the social media posts. He also urged the Court to confirm its interim order and decree the suit. Accordingly, the Court decreed the suit in Birla's favour. "It is left open to the Plaintiff to bring to the notice of the intermediaries any identical offending social media post(s), which comes to the knowledge of the Plaintiff and on a request being made to remove the post(s), the same shall be removed. Interim injunction stands confirmed," it added. .Advocates Sanyam Khetarpal, Aditya Manubarwala and Lisa Sankrit also appeared for Birla. Advocates Ankit Parhar and Abhishek Kumar appeared for X Corp. Advocates Neel Mason, Ekta Sharma, Pragya Jain, Surabhi Katare and Pragya Jain appeared for Google Inc.Central Government Standing Counsel Vineet Dhanda and Amit Tiwari along with Advocates Hussain Adil Taqvi, Saksham Sethi, Shweta Shandilya, Akansha Choudhary, Medha Haridas, Ayushi Srivastava and Ayush Tanwar appeared for the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY)..[Read Order]