Kolkata, Oct. 15 -- A civil court in Alipore has reportedly restrained Mamata All India Trinamool Congress (MAITC) MP Mahua Moitra from publishing or repeating allegedly defamatory remarks against Manoj Agarwal over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, while directing her to remove two posts from her X account within 24 hours of receiving the order.
The Civil Judge (Senior Division), First Court, passed the ex parte ad-interim injunction on a defamation plea filed by Agarwal. The posts, published on October 3 and 6, allegedly described Agarwal as a "vote chor" and accused him of being responsible for the illegal deletion of voters' names from electoral rolls.
The court also prohibited Moitra, her agents and others acting on her behalf from republishing the allegations on any platform. The statements covered by the order include accusations that Agarwal committed "every illegality", was "singularly responsible" for disenfranchising voters or acted at the behest of a "maalik".
However, the court clarified that the restrictions would not prevent Moitra from fairly criticising the SIR exercise or official decisions connected with it.
If the posts are not removed within the stipulated period, Agarwal may forward the order to X Corp. and its grievance officer for appropriate action under the Information Technology Act and the rules governing intermediaries.
The court stressed that its observations were preliminary and would not influence the final adjudication. Moitra can file objections and seek discharge, modification or setting aside of the injunction. The matter remains subject to further consideration by the court.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.