Politician needs to be thick-skinned, but distinction between satire, defamation required: Delhi HC

New Delhi, Sep 23 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Tuesday said that an individual who is in politics has to be "thick-skinned" but a distinction has to be made between satire and defamation.

Justice Amit Bansal also said that if the comments were found to be "obscene", they would have to be taken down.

The judge made the observations while hearing an application by BJP leader and senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia seeking the removal of "defamatory" content from social media over his appearance on a TV news show earlier this month, where he was reportedly seen wearing a kurta "without any pants/pyjama". The counsel appearing for Bhatia told the court he was wearing shorts and that the cameraman showed the bottom half of his body by mistake.

He claimed that social media posts related to the incident violate Bhatia's privacy, and the objectionable comments must be removed.

The judge said the court must be very careful while passing an ex parte injunction order, and paired the matter for hearing on September 25.

"We have to be very careful. The Supreme Court has said that you should not pass ex parte orders in such cases. We have to be very careful," the judge remarked.

The counsel contended that the picture was "taken in the privacy" of his home and should not have been circulated without his consent.

"It was an invasion of my (Bhatia) privacy. I was sitting in the privacy of my home. Such photos, first of all, may not be circulated without my consent," he said To this, the judge said, "You have the interview; they did not barge into your home." "When you're in politics, you've to be thick-skinned. We'll have to cull out what's satirical and what's defamatory," the judge further said in response to Bhatia's argument that "defamatory" photos may not be circulated without his consent.

In his petition, Bhatia said, "I stand before you because reputation is earned over years. I have come before you to protect my dignity".

The judge noted that many of the comments cited by Bhatia as defamatory were "satirical comments".

"Obscene comments have to be taken down. So for now we need to distinguish between offensive and satirical comments," the court said.

The petition further alleged that there was AI-generated content in relation to the matter, as well as morphed pictures. PTI UK RT RT