HC directs Cong, AAP to remove posts on Gautam: 'Reply to dirty politics'

The Delhi High Court directed Congress and AAP to remove social media posts linking BJP leader Dushyant Gautam to the Ankita Bhandari murder case. BJP's Gaurav Bhatia hailed the verdict as a 'victory for law' against 'dirty politics'.

BJP leader and advocate Gaurav Bhatia on Wednesday welcomed the Delhi High Court's directions to Congress and AAP to remove social media posts linking BJP leader Dushyant Gautam to the Ankita Bhandari murder case, calling the verdict a victory for law and a reply to "dirty politics."

Speaking to the reporters, Bhatia said, "The High Court in the matter of Dushyant Gautam has given directions to various defendants to immediately remove the malicious defamatory posts that the official social media handles of the Congress Party, the AAP, which one Urmila has been posting which are without any facts or basis. They are posted to indulge in cheap petty politics."

"This is a befitting reply to the dirty politics that the Congress Party and AAP indulge in. This is the victory of law. All the defamatory content posted on social media handles of mainly Congress, AAP and Urmila would be removed within 24 hours," he said.

Delhi HC Restrains Congress, AAP

Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court restrained several defendants, including Indian National Congress (INC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), from publishing or circulating social media content allegedly linking Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam to the Ankita Bhandari murder case, after finding that a prima facie case of defamation was made out.

The matter is being heard by Justice Mini Pushkarna, who passed an ad-interim ex parte order in favour of the plaintiff. Dictating the order in open court, Justice Pushkarna recorded that the application had been filed seeking ad-interim relief against defendants who had "published and amplified various allegations" imputing the plaintiff with defamatory claims.

The Court held that, considering the facts and circumstances, a prima facie case existed, the balance of convenience lay in favour of the plaintiff, and irreparable injury would be caused if immediate restraint was not granted.

Case Background and Defamation Plea

The controversy traces back to the murder of Ankita Bhandari, a 19-year-old resort receptionist in Uttarakhand, whose body was recovered from a canal in September 2022. The case involved allegations that she was being pressured to provide sexual favours to guests at a resort run by Pulkit Arya, the son of a former BJP leader. A trial court subsequently convicted Arya and two others, sentencing them to life imprisonment.

According to Gautam's plea, the recent social media campaign falsely associates him with the crime despite the fact that he has never been named as an accused, charge-sheeted, or implicated by any investigating agency in the Ankita Bhandari case. The petition characterises the allegations as "fake news" deliberately manufactured and amplified by political rivals to extract undue political mileage and damage his public standing.

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