Google asks Smriti Irani to provide video links she wants removed in Silly Souls case

The Delhi High Court on Monday asked Union minister Smriti Irani to respond to an application by Google that it cannot remove the alleged defamatory content against her in connection with Silly Souls Café and Bar on YouTube on its own without it being provided the links of those videos.

Google told the court that it had complied with the order to remove the web-links allegedly containing objectionable material against Irani and her daughter and said the BJP leader may provide other URLs on which action will be taken. Google’s counsel told the court that only one URL was provided to them by Irani and the same has been disabled.

Senior advocate Arvind Nigam along with advocate Mamta Jha, appearing for Google, submitted that Irani needs to provide it the URLs of the content which is required to be taken off from YouTube in accordance with the court order. “If we have doubts [about content removal request], we will inform the plaintiff and then the plaintiff can approach the court [for clarification],” Jha said, while presenting to the bench previous court orders where such procedure has been followed.

Also read: Smriti Irani’s family invested in firm whose ‘GST address’ is same as Silly Souls: Report

Jha said that social media intermediaries “are not adjudicating bodies” and cannot decide what is “similar content”. She further argued that the plaintiff is under an obligation to give links to Google for further action. The application was opposed by Irani’s lawyer.

Court order in favour of Irani

Justice Mini Pushkarna had last month directed Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D’Souza to delete and remove their posts on social media against Irani. The court had further directed Google, Twitter and Meta to remove such content “or anything similar thereto” from their platforms.

The court had observed that neither the restaurant nor the land on which it exists is owned by Irani and her daughter. “Considering the documents on record it is clearly seen that there was no licence which was ever issued in favour of the plaintiff or her daughter. The plaintiff or her daughter are not the owners of the restaurant. It has also been established by the plaintiff prima facie that the plaintiff or her daughter never applied for licence,” said the court in the order dated July 29.

“Neither the restaurant nor the land on which the restaurant exists is owned by the plaintiff or her daughter even the showcause notice issued by the government of Goa is not in the name of the plaintiff or her daughter. All these facts have also been affirmed in the affidavit by the plaintiff,” the court had said.

‘Malicious intent’

It had said it was of the considered view that the statements made by the Congress leaders were in the “nature of slander and seem to be bogus with malicious intent, only to garner the highest amount of viewership thereby intentionally subjecting the plaintiff to a great public ridicule.”

In their press conference last month, the Congress had accused Irani’s daughter of running the restaurant in Goa illegally, with the bar licence procured fraudulently in the name of a deceased person. The Congress had also demanded the resignation of Irani from the Union cabinet.

Also read: Smriti Irani, daughter not owners of Goa restaurant and bar: Delhi HC order

Irani’s suit alleged that the Congress leaders “conspired with each other and with unknown individuals/ organisations to launch a tirade of false, scathing and belligerent personal attacks” against her and her daughter “with the common motive to malign, defame and injure” their reputation, moral character and public image.