The Bombay high court on 8th April restrained self-styled journalist and actor Kamal R. Khan from publishing, circulating or repeating the allegations and tweets and videos (posted between May, 2020 and April 3, 2021) against producer Vashu Bhagnani and/or his son, Jackky Bhagnani, and/or making, publishing, circulating and/or communicating to the public any defamatory/slanderous comments and/or statements against Vashu and/or his family and/or his business, profession and/or his projects. The order was passed in the interim application in suit no. 9530 of 2021.
Dr. Virendra Tulzapurkar, on behalf of applicant (plaintiff) Vashu Bhagnani, told the court that Kamal R. Khan had initiated a smear campaign against Bhagnani without any provocation, by posting comments and videos on social media. He explained that the comments and videos were per se defamatory and baseless. He added that there were serious allegations made against Bhagnani and some other persons, who were alleged to have engaged in illegal money transfer activities. He also added that there were allegations that Vashu was destroying Bollywood and also about his son, Jackky. Tulzapurkar made references to tweets posted between May, 2020 and 3rd April, 2021 and said that the comments were intended to humiliate and ridicule Vashu Bhagnani in society in general. He, therefore, sought ad interim relief.
Mr. Gadkari, who appeared on behalf of Kamal R. Khan, tried to convince the court that there was nothing defamatory in the defendant’s comments and posts because they were mere reviews of his films. However, Gadkari was not in a position to justify how many of Kamal’s tweets did not constitute criticism of any film, and were prima facie slanderous and actionable.