The war of words between BJP national spokesperson and senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia and Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenor Saurav Das continued on Thursday after a hearing in Bhatia’s defamation suit before the Delhi High Court.
The counsel for Das and Ranka assured the court that the posts in question would be removed within 24 hours. However, the court declined to immediately restrain Das, Ranka from posting further content, in view of their undertaking but asked Meta and X to take down identical posts in future if the same is flagged by Bhatia. We are waiting for a copy of the order. Keeping in mind that the suggestion fell from the Hon’ble Court, and its suggestion to not be stuck in court cases given the amount of good work we have to do, both @AshutoshRanka and I voluntarily undertook to delete the posts. More importantly, Bhatia sought a dynamic injunction against us but the High Court REJECTED the same,” Das wrote on X. “The Hon’ble Court advised Bhatia that instead of approaching the court, things could have been amicably settled but he refused the proposal. It goes without saying that we have full faith and respect for the Court to do fair justice. We will do everything in our capacity to save the Court’s precious time and scarce resource,” he added. Bhatia, who appeared in person, declined the court’s suggestion to refer the matter to mediation and urged it to restrain the defendants from publishing any further allegedly defamatory posts on the issue.
Following the hearing, Das said on X that he and Ranka had voluntarily agreed to delete the posts, including one featuring a picture of Bhatia without trousers, after the judge suggested that they take them down. Bhatia, meanwhile, responded to the development on X with a brief post saying: “No comments” He also shared headlines about the court proceedings, including: “CJP’s Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka to delete posts against BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia; Delhi High Court asks Meta, X to take down identical posts in future” “Will Take Down Posts Against Sr Advocate Gaurav Bhatia In 24 Hours: CJP’s Saurav Das, Ashutosh Ranka Tell Delhi High Court Court issued summons to CJP and Abhijeet Dipke in Bhatia’s defamation suit.
“This is with respect to the pantless-Gaurav Bhatia case before the Delhi High Court. The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked Das and Ranka to take down certain allegedly objectionable posts against Bhatia. However, during the hearing today, the Hon’ble Judge suggested that we take down the post with a picture of pantless Gaurav Bhatia.
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, hearing Bhatia’s defamation lawsuit, observed that while young people have the right to express themselves, such expression should be verified and conveyed in an appropriate manner. “There are different ways of protesting. Do you really need to go to this? You are all youngsters. You may have your own anxiety. “There is a lot of anxiety around these days, right? But there are different ways of expressing. You can express these things, you are the youth, you are the next generation.
Bhatia appeared to take a dig at the development on X While Das said he and fellow CJP co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka would remove the posts at the court’s suggestion. You may want to express certain things..but saying certain things, putting certain things without verifying may not be correct,” the court told the lawyers appearing for the CJP leaders. You have a right to express but sometimes the expressions need to be put a more articulate manner; a manner which expresses your intent and goes the right way,” it further said.
