Bombay High Court refuses to refrain Nawab Malik from making comments against Wankhede
The Hindu
The Minister must verify before making such comments, it says
The Bombay High Court on Monday refused to restrain Maharashtra Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik from making comments on social media against Narcotics Control Bureau’s (NCB) Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede and his family.
A single Bench of Justice Madhav Jamdar was hearing a defamation suit filed by Mr. Wankhede’s father, Dhyandev, who sought for making defamatory statements. The petition mentioned that Mr. Malik had leaked a purported birth certificate of his son on Twitter .
The court said, “Although plaintiff [Mr. Wankhede] has right to privacy, the defendant [Mr. Malik] has right to freedom of speech and expression, there has to be balancing of fundamental rights. Whether the tweets made contain allegations pertaining to discharge of official functions? Whether the publications prove to be false? Whether there was reasonable verification of facts? These aspects show that defendants has not taken due care, and serious allegations are made against Mr. Wankhede,” the court noted.