Delhi High Court notice to media portal on defamation plea of Nirmal Baba

The Delhi High Court today sought the response of vernacular media portal -- bhadas4media -- on a plea by self-styled godman Nirmal Baba demanding removal of alleged defamatory articles on the website and Rs 21 lakh in damages.Delhi-based Nirmaljit Singh Narula alias Nirmal Baba, who has been in media glare recently, has moved the court seeking a direction to stop the Hindi portal from carrying alleged defamatory articles on its site.


The godman has not only sought removal of the write-ups from the site but also sought Rs 21 lakh in damages from the media portal and its managing officials. Justice Kailash Gambhir, while issuing a notice to the portal to respond by May 30, also asked Nirmal Baba to file copies of complaints and FIRs registered, so far, against him to judge as to whether the articles are defamatory or not. "Plaintiff (Nirmal Baba) is directed to place on record, the copy of complaints, FIRs which are registered against him. In the meanwhile, summons of the suit and the notice be sent to respondents (bhadas4media and Yashwant Singh) returnable on May 30," the court said.


The godman, in his plea, alleged that around 80 defamatory articles have been posted on the website."Around 30 TV channels show programmes of Nirmal Baba who has also got 3.70 lakh followers on social networking site Facebook and such write ups have defamed him," it said. Recently, Nirmal Baba has been in news as a slew of complaints have been filed against him and a larger bench of the Delhi High Court has also issued notices to the government on a PIL accusing him of promoting superstition. (PTI)