The Delhi High Court today directed the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party to remove social media posts, within 24 hours, linking BJP leader Dushyant Kumar Gautam to the 2022 Ankita Bhandari murder case.
In an interim order passed on a defamation lawsuit by Gautam, Justice Mini Pushkarna also restrained the two political parties from posting any content targeting the BJP leader. The court also passed the directions against other persons and entities, including actor Urmila Sanawar and the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee.
The court asked the social media platforms to also take down any identical content once it was flagged by the BJP leader. According to Gautam’s plea, the recent social media campaign falsely associates him with the case, despite the fact that he has never been named as an accused, charge-sheeted, or implicated by any investigating agency in the case.
In 2022, 19-year-old Ankita Bhandari, a receptionist at a Resort in Pauri district, was murdered. The resort owner and two employees were subsequently arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment by a sessions court.
