Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nishikant Dubey.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Delhi High Court closed a case after being informed that BJP MP Nishikant Dubey removed his alleged defamatory social media post against Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora disposed of Ms. Moitra’s interim plea after Mr. Dubey’s counsel said the contentious Facebook post was deleted.

Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, who had also posted a tweet against Ms. Moitra on social media, appeared before the court and assured of taking down the post from his X handle.

“In light of the fact that defendant 1 [Nishikant Dubey] has already removed the another post from Facebook and that defendant 2 [Jai Anant Dehadrai] has undertaken to remove the impugned post from X, the relief sought in this application does not survive for consideration. The application is hereby disposed of,” the court said in its May 9 order.

Ms. Moitra claimed being aggrieved by Mr. Dubey’s post on Facebook and a tweet of Mr. Dehadrai on X with the screenshot of Mr. Dubey’s post. The content was related to a CBI case involving Ms. Moitra with the Lokpal of India.

Mr. Dubey’s counsel said the post was based on a judgement of Lokpal on his complaint against Ms. Moitra. His counsel contended that Ms. Moitra’s comment had provoked the BJP leader by using derogatory words and phrases with innuendos. Ms. Moitra’s counsel clarified the objectionable word used in the comment or any part of the plaintiff’s post on her social media handles did not relate to Mr. Dubey.

The court took her statement on record and said she was bound to the same.

Fresh plea

The fresh plea was filed by Ms. Moitra in her pending defamation case against Mr. Dubey and Mr. Dehadra in 2023 over false and defamatory allegations against her of demanding bribe for asking questions in Parliament.

Mr. Dubey accused Ms. Moitra of taking bribes from businessman and Hiranandani Group CEO Darshan Hiranandani for asking questions in Parliament.

Citing a letter he received from advocate Mr. Dehadrai, Mr. Dubey said the latter shared with him “irrefutable” evidence of bribes allegedly having been paid to the TMC leader by the businessman.

Based on these allegations, the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee suggested Ms. Moitra’s removal from the Lower House following which she was expelled on December 8, 2023.

In the suit, Ms. Moitra sought to restrain Mr. Dubey and Mr. Dehadrai from publishing or posting any “false defamatory content” against her on any online or offline platform. She also sought a public apology from them.