HC asks Twitter to take down Truschkes tweets alleging plagiarism by historian Vikram Sampath
New Delhi Feb 24 PTI The Delhi High Court Thursday directed social media giant Twitter to take down several tweets made by academician Audrey Truschke against historian Dr Vikram Sampath over allegations of plagiarism by him concerning his work on Vinayak Damodar SavarkarA defamation lawsuit has been filed by Sampath claiming that academicians Dr Audrey Truschke Dr Ananya Chakrabarti and Dr Rohit Chopra wrote a letter to the Royal Historical Society in London making serious allegations of plagiarism against him with respect to the two-volume biography of SavarkarJustice Amit Bansals direction came while hearing a fresh application by Sampath in which he said that pursuant to the February 11 letter Truschke and others sent another communication to the society alleging further plagiarism in his work and this was also posted on Twitter and FacebookThe court in an interim order on February 18 had restrained the publication of any defamatory material and the letter written to the society making allegations of plagiarismThe interim order was passed against academicians Truschke Chakrabarti Chopra and Ashok Swain as well as freelance journalist Abhishek Baxi on the defamation suitThe court also issued summons to Facebook as the letter was also posted on the social media platformOn February 18 the court had issued a summons on the suit to the individuals as well as the Centre and Twitter and said that the plaintiff historian made out a prima facie case for the grant on ad-interim protection as the content of the letter were damaging his career and reputationThe continued publication of the letter has been causing considerable damage to the plaintiffs reputation and career Balance of convenience is also in his favour and irreparable damage will be caused if the injunction is not granted the court had saidConsequently till the next date of hearing defendants no 1 Dr Audrey Truschke 2 Dr Ananya Chakrabarti 3 Dr Rohit Chopra 6 Abhishek Baxi and 7 Ashok Swain are restrained from publishing the letter dated February 11 2022 or any other defamatory material on Twitter as well as any other online or offline platforms it had addedThe court had noted Twitters stand if ordered it would take down the specific tweets which are allegedly defamatory and placed the case for further hearing on April 1 In the plea the plaintiff said that he is the author of a critically acclaimed biography of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in LondonThe plaintiff informed the court that earlier this month Truschke Chakrabarti and Chopra wrote to the Society making serious allegations of plagiarism with respect to the two-volume biography of SavarkarSubsequently Baxi and Swain took to Twitter to post defamatory tweets against the plaintiff it was stated Lawyer Raghav Awasthi appearing for Sampath had said the allegations of plagiarism were baseless considering that the piece contained due citations attributions and footnotesI have cited all authors As a scholar all I have is my reputation amongst my peers My academic reputation will go for a toss the lawyer saidIn the plea filed through lawyer Mukesh Sharma apart from seeking an injunction against the named individuals the plaintiff has also sought around Rs two crore as damagesThe plea has claimed that it is at the receiving end of an international smear campaign to discredit him because he has shown the academic courage and gumption to challenge the prevailing narrative around a historical figure like Sh VD SavarkarCounsel for one of the individual defendants had opposed the interim order and stated that the issue of plagiarism was wider than that of copyright infringement and there were sentences lifted verbatimTwitters counsel had stated that the platform which is an intermediary cant police the letter but if ordered by the court it would take down specific tweets whose URL is clearly identified PTI SKV SKV RKS RKS
New Delhi Feb 24 PTI The Delhi High Court Thursday directed social media giant Twitter to take down several tweets made by academician Audrey Truschke against historian Dr Vikram Sampath over allegations of plagiarism by him concerning his work on Vinayak Damodar SavarkarA defamation lawsuit has been filed by Sampath claiming that academicians Dr Audrey Truschke Dr Ananya Chakrabarti and Dr Rohit Chopra wrote a letter to the Royal Historical Society in London making serious allegations of plagiarism against him with respect to the two-volume biography of SavarkarJustice Amit Bansals direction came while hearing a fresh application by Sampath in which he said that pursuant to the February 11 letter Truschke and others sent another communication to the society alleging further plagiarism in his work and this was also posted on Twitter and FacebookThe court in an interim order on February 18 had restrained the publication of any defamatory material and the letter written to the society making allegations of plagiarismThe interim order was passed against academicians Truschke Chakrabarti Chopra and Ashok Swain as well as freelance journalist Abhishek Baxi on the defamation suitThe court also issued summons to Facebook as the letter was also posted on the social media platformOn February 18 the court had issued a summons on the suit to the individuals as well as the Centre and Twitter and said that the plaintiff historian made out a prima facie case for the grant on ad-interim protection as the content of the letter were damaging his career and reputationThe continued publication of the letter has been causing considerable damage to the plaintiffs reputation and career Balance of convenience is also in his favour and irreparable damage will be caused if the injunction is not granted the court had saidConsequently till the next date of hearing defendants no 1 Dr Audrey Truschke 2 Dr Ananya Chakrabarti 3 Dr Rohit Chopra 6 Abhishek Baxi and 7 Ashok Swain are restrained from publishing the letter dated February 11 2022 or any other defamatory material on Twitter as well as any other online or offline platforms it had addedThe court had noted Twitters stand if ordered it would take down the specific tweets which are allegedly defamatory and placed the case for further hearing on April 1 In the plea the plaintiff said that he is the author of a critically acclaimed biography of Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society in LondonThe plaintiff informed the court that earlier this month Truschke Chakrabarti and Chopra wrote to the Society making serious allegations of plagiarism with respect to the two-volume biography of SavarkarSubsequently Baxi and Swain took to Twitter to post defamatory tweets against the plaintiff it was stated Lawyer Raghav Awasthi appearing for Sampath had said the allegations of plagiarism were baseless considering that the piece contained due citations attributions and footnotesI have cited all authors As a scholar all I have is my reputation amongst my peers My academic reputation will go for a toss the lawyer saidIn the plea filed through lawyer Mukesh Sharma apart from seeking an injunction against the named individuals the plaintiff has also sought around Rs two crore as damagesThe plea has claimed that it is at the receiving end of an international smear campaign to discredit him because he has shown the academic courage and gumption to challenge the prevailing narrative around a historical figure like Sh VD SavarkarCounsel for one of the individual defendants had opposed the interim order and stated that the issue of plagiarism was wider than that of copyright infringement and there were sentences lifted verbatimTwitters counsel had stated that the platform which is an intermediary cant police the letter but if ordered by the court it would take down specific tweets whose URL is clearly identified PTI SKV SKV RKS RKS
