Bombay HC slams Shilpa: You chose a life in public life, can't cry foul

The Bombay High Court has termed actor Shilpa Shetty’s demand for monitoring the editorial content on social media platforms “dangerous.” The actor, the wife of Raj Kundra who was arrested in the pornography scandal, has moved the court against the publication of a few news items as well as on Facebook and Instagram over “defamatory content” against her.

In her plea, Shilpa Shetty has submitted that certain media platforms were “smearing her reputation with the aim of sensationalizing news and increasing their readership and viewership.” The plea, filed via Shetty’s lawyers Birendra Saraf and Abhinav Chandrachud, also sought interim injunctions against the defendants.

Kundra was arrested by the Mumbai police on the night of July 19 for the alleged production of pornographic films and their dissemination through apps.

Also read: Shilpa defends husband Raj Kundra; tells cops ‘erotica’ different from ‘porn’

“What is defamatory about saying something about Shilpa Shetty? What is so special? You choose a life in the public eye, part of this comes in the territory. There is no law on this. Judgments are there… How many times do we have to go with this?” Justice Patel told Saraf, News 18 reported. The judge also stated that “reportage on what a police source has said is by definition never defamatory.”

Also read: Mumbai police raid Shilpa Shetty’s Juhu house

Saraf argued as to how what transpired between Shilpa and her husband during a police raid at their residence was news. To which the court stated, “How is her crying defamatory news? This happened in the presence of outsiders… in a matter which is of some public concern, or seems to be of some public concern.”

The Mumbai Police Crime Branch took a statement from Shilpa Shetty in the pornography case. News reports quoting police sources said the actor broke down on seeing her husband and said that the “family’s reputation was ruined, their endorsements in the industry were being cancelled and she had to give up many projects”.

In her statement given to the police, Shetty said she did not know about the content of the app, nor did she interfere in her husband’s business, police sources said.