The Delhi High Court on Monday declined to grant immediate relief in a defamation suit filed by senior journalist Anjana Om Kashyap and TV Today Network against educator Khan Sir and several other online educators and content creators over allegedly defamatory online posts.

The matter was taken up by Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, who heard submissions on an application seeking interim injunction and removal of the impugned content from various online platforms.

Appearing for the plaintiffs, counsel submitted that multiple defendants had posted abusive, derogatory and allegedly defamatory content targeting Kashyap in relation to her coverage concerning “star teachers”. It was argued that the language used in several posts was highly offensive and amounted to more than mere criticism.

Counsel for the plaintiffs further submitted that some posts were capable of inciting violence. Referring to the nature of the content, counsel argued, “The language, it cannot be more abusive than that. It is actually inciting violence…They are involving my children. Threatening that we will shoot you down, your daughter.”

Opposing the plea, Senior Advocate Rakesh Malhotra, appearing for some of the defendants, argued that the plaintiffs had sought an overbroad injunction without identifying specific defamatory statements attributable to each defendant. He contended that freedom of speech protections under Article 19 were available and questioned whether an injunction could be granted against all defendants collectively.

Other defendants similarly argued that the suit improperly bundled together multiple posts made by different individuals across different platforms and that separate causes of action had been combined into a single proceeding.

When the plaintiffs pressed for immediate takedown of the content, the Court declined to pass urgent interim directions at this stage. Noting the number of matters listed before it, and therefore posted the matter for next Monday.