SC transfers Indiabulls Defamation Case against Advocate Prashant Bhushan from Rohtak to Delhi SC agreed to transfer a petition which filed by Advocate Prashant Bhushan for criminal defamation case against him initiated by IndiaBulls Venture Capital Management Co. Ltd. in Rohtak, Haryana, to Delhi.
The Supreme Court bench comprises Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and justices BR Gavai and Surya Kant allowed transfer of proceedings from Haryana’s Rohtak to the Patiala House Court, Delhi as the Respondent not objected the petition.
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Criminal defamation proceedings under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code were initiated against Bhushan by one of the Directors of Indiabulls Venture Capital Management Co. Ltd. It was claimed that Bhushan had made defamatory statements regarding the functioning of Indiabulls group, its promoters, officials and directors, etc through social media plartforms such as Twitter, Facebook, among others which had caused substantial damage to the reputation and goodwill of the company.
“The past conduct of the Indiabulls makes it manifestly clear that whenever their illegalities being perpetrated by the Indiabulls are brought out in public domain, it habitually deploys aggressive legal tactics and claims that the research reports /complaints /Petitions are motivated so as to dissuade proper scrutiny.” Prashant Bhushan, in his transfer petition.
Bhushan has claimed that the said defamation case is only a “vindictive action” against him, to silence him from highlighting the illegalities committed by the company, in the conduct of its business. Bhushan has further submitted that he is a practicing Advocate in Delhi and traveling to Haryana to attend hearings will cause him “undue difficulty”.
It is thus alleged that the company has used this very fact as leverage to silence him, by filing the case in Haryana.He added that the IndiaBulls group has its registered office in Delhi and thus contended that the proceedings should be transferred to the capital.
He said that in making the allegedly defamatory statements against the company, he had relied on documents, balance sheets and ROC records that are available in the public domain and are available for anyone to see, study and conduct an analysis.
