Delhi HC summons commentator Abhijit Iyer-Mitra in ‘Newslaundry’ defamation case

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued summons to commentator Abhijit Iyer-Mitra in a defamation case filed by women employees of digital news outlet Newslaundry for making sexually abusive remarks about them, Live Law reported.

On May 21, Iyer-Mitra took down the remarks he had posted on social media between February and April after the High Court reprimanded him.

On Monday, the court briefly put the matter on hold to allow the plaintiffs’ lawyer to confirm whether they wanted to go ahead with the case. Once the lawyer said that they did, the court formally issued a summons to the commentator, Live Law said.

The court was hearing the defamation suit filed by nine employees of Newslaundry seeking a public apology and Rs 2 crore in damages from Iyer-Mitra, a columnist at pro-Bharatiya Janata Party outlet OpIndia.

The nine staff members that have filed the defamation plea are: Manisha Pande, Ishita Pradeep, Suhasini Biswas, Sumedha Mittal, Tista Roy Chowdhury, Tasneem Fatia, Priya Jain, Jayashree Arunachalam and Priyali Dhingra, Live Law said. Newslaundry is also one of the plaintiffs in the suit.

During the hearing on Monday, Senior Advocate Percival Billimoria, representing Iyer-Mitra, informed the court that the posts in question had been taken down.

However, Advocate Bani Dikshit, appearing for the Newslaundry journalists, argued that there was "absolutely no remorse," adding that Iyer-Mitra was still engaging with...

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