New Delhi: Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s daughter, Himayani Puri, on Tuesday secured interim relief from the Delhi High Court in a defamation suit seeking removal of online content that allegedly links her to convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
A single-judge Bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna issued summons to multiple defendants, including social media intermediaries such as Meta Platforms, Google, X (Twitter) and LinkedIn, and directed them to file their responses within four weeks.
Justice Pushkarna also granted interim protection to Himayani Puri by restraining the defendants and unidentified “John Doe” entities from publishing or circulating the allegedly defamatory content on any platform.
During the hearing, the Delhi High Court observed that a prima facie case was made out in favour of the plaintiff and that failure to restrain such content could result in irreparable harm to her reputation.
In its order, Justice Pushkarna directed individuals who had uploaded the allegedly defamatory posts, videos and links to remove them within 24 hours. In case of non-compliance, the concerned intermediaries have been directed to take down or block access to such content.
The Delhi High Court clarified that the present injunction order would operate within the Indian jurisdiction. It said that content uploaded from IP addresses within India must be removed, while links or URLs uploaded from outside India should be blocked from being accessed within the country.
The matter has been listed for further hearing on August 7.
In her plea, Himayani Puri has sought the removal of various news reports, posts, videos and other digital content circulating online that allegedly associate her with Epstein and his criminal activities.
The suit contends that multiple posts circulating on the Internet since February 22 have made allegations suggesting that she maintained direct or indirect financial, business or personal links with Epstein.
According to the plea, the claims are entirely false, malicious and devoid of factual basis.
The plaintiff has further alleged that several unidentified individuals and social media entities circulated the claims through edited videos, misleading captions and manipulated thumbnails with the intention of causing reputational harm.
Puri has also sought damages of Rs 10 crore and a permanent injunction against the defendants, including unidentified “John Doe” entities, for allegedly circulating defamatory material against her.
The developments come amid political controversy in India following the release of documents related to the investigations into Epstein in the United States. Opposition members, including leaders from the Congress, had earlier demanded the resignation of Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri after his name allegedly appeared in the so-called “Epstein files”.
Epstein, a wealthy US financier, died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges involving underage girls. His death was officially ruled a suicide. The controversy has resurfaced globally after US President Donald Trump signed legislation mandating the release of files related to the investigation into Epstein.
The US Justice Department subsequently produced more than three million pages of records as part of the transparency process after reviewing millions of pages of material gathered during investigations into Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell.
(IANS)
