Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has filed a Rs 100 crores defamation suit in Ranchi Civil Court against BJP MP Dr Nishikant Dubey for allegedly tarnishing his image through social media.
The defamation suit was filed against Dubey on August 4.
In the case along with the MP, Twitter Communications India Private Limited and Facebook India Online Services Private Limited have been made the parties as respondents 2 and 3. The plaintiff (Hemant Soren) has claimed damages in the sum of Rs 100 crores against each of the respondents.
Dubey has been writing continuously against Hemant Soren on various matters on social media platforms. Recently, he took to Twitter and accused "Soren of raping and abducting a woman in Mumbai in 2013". Responding to this, while tagging Dubey, Soren said that he would reply to his allegations through a legal channel.
In the suit, it has been said that since about July 27, 2020 Dubey has been publishing defamatory statements attacking Soren falsely and maliciously to bring him into public scandal, odium, contempt and hatred and tarnishing his reputation. He even went to the extent of publishing it on social media.
Twitter Communications India Private Limited and Facebook India Online Services Private Limited have been made the respondent because they allegedly did not block or withdraw the posting of such derogatory posts knowing that a complainant is a person of repute, as per the suit.A brief hearing was done on August 5 and the next hearing will be on August 22.On August 6, Dr Nishikant Dubey again took the social media to corner Soren. "Mr Chief Minister allegation of rape and abduction was put by some girl in Mumbai and you are filing cases against me instead of her. Thank you for giving me a chance to fight against Chief Minister like Saryu Roy," he tweeted in Hindi.
( With inputs from ANI )