Raj Kundra case: Shilpa Shetty files defamation suit against 29 media houses, personnel

Mumbai - She urged the court to order the defendants to pay Rs200 million as compensation

Actor Shilpa Shetty has filed a defamation suit in Bombay High Court against 29 media personnel and media houses, accusing them of “false reporting and maligning her image” following the arrest of her husband Raj Kundra in a case connected with creation and distribution of pornographic content.

The hearing in Kundra’s case is scheduled for Friday.

Shetty urged the high court to issue a “permanent and mandatory injunction restraining the defendants, (themselves and through their servants, agents, assigns and/or any person claiming by or through them) from making and/or publishing and/or reproducing and/or circulating and/or speaking and/or communicating, any derogatory and defamatory statements.”

She also requested the court to issue a mandatory order directing the defendants to forthwith delete and/or remove the defamatory articles and the defamatory videos from their respective websites and social media platforms and to issue an unconditional apology.

The petitioner is also seeking a mandatory order “directing the defendants to issue a clarificatory statement and an unconditional apology in their respective websites and elsewhere where the defamatory statements are contained stating that the defamatory articles and defamatory videos were published without ascertaining the veracity or the genuineness of the statements and hence, are baseless, unsubstantiated and unwarranted”.

The defendants be ordered and directed to pay to the plaintiff (Shilpa Shetty) an amount of Rs20 crore (200 million) together with interest thereon at 18 per cent per annum from the date of filing of the suit until payment and/or realisation, read the plea.

The actor also sought for passing appropriate directions requiring Facebook, YouTube and other social media platforms to remove or delete or take down the defamatory articles and defamatory videos.

Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra was arrested by police on July 19 along with 11 other people on charges related to the alleged creation of pornographic films. Kundra has been named as the key conspirator by the Mumbai Police which has slapped charges against him under Sections 420 (cheating), 34 (common intention), 292, and 293 (related to obscene and indecent advertisements and displays) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) besides relevant sections of the IT Act and the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, said the police.

Mumbai Crime Branch on Tuesday said that actor Shilpa Shetty has not yet been given a clean chit in the pornography racket case where her husband and businessman Raj Kundra is the prime accused.

“Shilpa Shetty has not been given a clean chit yet. All the possibilities and angles are being probed. Forensic auditors have been appointed and they are looking into the transactions of all the accounts in this case. This audit may take some time as it is a lengthy process but until the audit is complete, no clean chit to anyone,” the officials had said.

• India