Lankan SC judge moves K’taka HC, seeks to block defamatory content

APosing adjudicate of the sublime margaret court of Sri Lanka has approached the mysore High Court seeking directions to Google India and the Union government to remove allegedly defamatory online content and block URLs of some news reports published against him by publications in Sri Lanka.After a brief hearing on Thursday, justice Sachin Shankar Magadum issued notices to the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Google India.The HC has directed the Union government and Google India to respond to justice Nawaz’s petition by March 16, the next date of hearing. The Court also directed the petitioner to issue personal notice via email to the websites ‘Colombo Telegraph’ and ‘Lankaenews.’Justice AHMD Nawaz, the fourth senior-most judge of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, has approached the high court alleging that certain online articles and search results published in 2015 and 2020 have caused severe damage to his “international reputation” as a jurist.The petition states that justice Nawaz cannot pursue defamation proceedings in Sri Lanka because, as a sitting Supreme Court judge, doing so would conflict with the principle “nemo judex in causa sua”—that no person should be a judge in their own cause.He has invoked the jurisdiction of the Karnataka High Court arguing that the alleged defamation is being propagated through online platforms and that Google India’s headquarters are located in Bengaluru.The plea further contends that courts have recognised that the location of the server or headquarters of the entity hosting the content may be considered while determining jurisdiction in cases involving online defamation.Justice Nawaz stated that the articles, circulating widely on the internet, contain baseless allegations and continue to appear in online searches for his name. According to the petition, the content has travelled “far beyond the shores of Sri Lanka” and caused “grievous harm to his reputation in the international legal community.”His counsel, advocate R Prabhakaran, told the high court that the articles, circulating widely on the internet, contain baseless allegations and continue to appear in online searches for his name.The Sri Lankan judge has said in his petition that the publications are “no less than a murder of reputation, an assassination of his character,” and alleged that they constitute a calculated attempt to undermine the dignity he has earned as a sitting judge and academic.He issued a legal notice on September 12, 2023 to Google and the publishers seeking removal of the allegedly defamatory material. However, the content was not taken down. According to advocate Prabhakaran, Google responded that it could not remove the links without a court order.Prabhakaran also told the high court that the online posts include search results in which derogatory descriptions such as “dirty judge” appear alongside the petitioner’s name.He argued that the allegations stem from a legal opinion the judge gave while serving as Deputy Solicitor General at the Supreme Court in Sri Lanka and that there has been no finding of misconduct during his tenure as a judge.Relying on Article 21 of the Constitution of India, which guarantees the right to life and personal liberty, the petition argues that the protection of dignity under this provision is not limited to Indian citizens but extends to all individuals, including foreign nationals.The petition states that the continued circulation of the allegedly defamatory material violates Justice Nawaz’s right to dignity and reputation. It also asserts that the “right to be free from defamatory statements is a globally recognised legal principle.”Justice Nawaz has urged the Karnataka high court to direct the Union ministry and Google India to remove the defamatory URLs and prevent their further reproduction. He has further requested the court to direct authorities to block the search results entirely and allow him to be “forgotten for the crime he never committed”.The allegedly defamatory articles reportedly relate to controversies surrounding financial irregularities linked to former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the circumstances surrounding Justice Nawaz’s appointment to the presidency of Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal in 2020, which had drawn criticism in some media reports.Advocates Madhukar M Deshpande and Manu S Kulkarni, who appeared for the Union government and Google India, accepted the notices issued by the court.