A Mumbai court on Wednesday refused to grant interim relief to Bollywood actor Salman Khan in his defamation suit filed against his neighbour Ketan Kakkad, a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) from the US, and others seeking to restrain them posting any objectionable content on social media against him and his family members over a land parcel adjacent to his farm house at Panvel.
Additional Sessions Judge Anil H Laddhad of the Mumbai City Civil Court passed a brief order on Salman’s plea, seeking interim relief for blocking/suspending/withdrawing the social media accounts of Kakkad and other defendants on the ground that the latter (Kakkad) allegedly shared derogatory content against the actor and his family.
While pronouncing the order, the Judge noted that he would give the reasons for rejection of the plea in a detailed order to be published soon.
In notice of motion, the actor had sought injunction against one Kakkad, YouTuber Sandeep Phogat, Paras Bhat, Ujjwal Narain, Facebook Inc, Facebook India Online Services Private Ltd, Twitter Inc, Twitter Communications India Private, Twitter International Company, YouTube LLC, Google LLC and Google India Pvt Ltd from uploading anything against him and his family members in matters relating to a land parcel located adjacent to the actor's 100-acre farmhouse at Panvel in the neighbouring Raigad district.
Opposing the actor’s pleas, Kakkad’s lawyers Abha Singh and Aditya Pratap told the court that there was "substantial truth" in the allegations made by their client that the actor had carried out substantial “illegal” constructions on his Panvel farmhouse which falls within the Matheran Eco-Sensitive Zone Notification.
On his part, Salman’s lawyer Pradeep Gandhy argued that the defendants had made “false, disparaging and defamatory allegations” in videos, posts and tweets causing harm and loss to the actor, his family members and his business ventures.
Gandhy told the court that Kakkad had attempted to purchase a plot of land adjacent to the actor’s farmhouse Arpita Farms' at Panvel, but the local authorities cancelled the land transaction on the grounds that it was illegal.
Gandhi went on to tell the court that Kakkad subsequently made “false and baseless” allegations that the transaction had been cancelled at the behest of the actor and his family members. Opposing interim relief to the actor, Kakkad’s Advocate Abha Singh argued that her client's statements “revolved around” the actor’s property and did in no way amount to defamation.
On their part, Kakkad’s lawyers told the court that their client had purchased a plot of land measuring 2.5 acres adjoining the actor’s palatial farmhouse from the actor himself in 1996. They told the court that he had been denied access to the land owned by him by the actor since 2014.
Kakkad’s lawyers told the court that they client had made various statements on social media in public interest as environment was part of the fundamental right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution of India and further, under Article 51(A)(g) it was the fundamental duty of every citizen to protect the environment. further it was the duty of every Indian and the state to protect Wildlife.
Kakkad lawyers also told the court that the actor’s counsel had approached Kakkad offering him money to give up the Panvel land and the actor filed the defamation after her client refused the offer.
The lawyers appearing for the various social media platforms opposed the interim relief to the actor saying that they had no control over what was posted by users on their social media platforms. They contended that scanning all posts and contents on their websites to remove the defamatory content against Khan was “unreasonable and meaningless”.
It may be recalled that in mid-January this year, the actor had joined issues with his neighbour Kakkad over the latter's social media comments.
An aggrieved Salman subsequently filed a civil defamation suit against Kakkad and also made Google YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social platform content creators as parties in the case and also sought an order restraining Kakkad from posting objectionable statements pending the outcome of the defamation suit filed by the actor against his neighbour.