The women employees of digital news outlet Newslaundry on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that they will not withdraw the defamation suit against commentator Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, Bar and Bench reported.
Justice Vikas Mahajan listed the matter before the joint registrar for further proceedings. The case was listed for further hearing on May 19.
In May, nine employees of Newslaundry filed a defamation suit against Iyer-Mitra, seeking a public apology and Rs 2 crore in damages from Iyer-Mitra, a columnist at pro-Bharatiya Janata Party outlet OpIndia.
They had stated that Iyer-Mitra, through a series of social media posts, had “falsely and maliciously” targeted the news outlet’s women employees using derogatory language and slurs.
The complainants had argued that Iyer-Mitra’s posts were made “knowingly and deliberately” with the intent to harm the dignity and reputation of the employees.
Iyer-Mitra’s comments are “not an aspect of free speech or journalistic criticism”, the employees had said.
“They are sexist slurs aimed at humiliating women professionals,” they had added. “They directly attack their dignity and right to work without fear or sexual harassment.”
The nine staff members who have filed the defamation plea are: Manisha Pande, Ishita Pradeep, Suhasini Biswas, Sumedha Mittal, Tista Roy Chowdhury, Tasneem Fatia, Priya Jain, Jayashree Arunachalam and Priyali Dhingra, Live Law reported. Newslaundry is also one of the plaintiffs in the suit.
On May 21, Iyer-Mitra told the court that he would take down social media posts in which he made the allegedly sexually abusive remarks.
On May 26, advocate Percival Billimoria, representing Iyer-Mitra, informed the court that the posts in question had been taken down.
However, advocate Bani Dixit, appearing for the Newslaundry journalists, had argued at the time that there was “absolutely no remorse”, adding that Iyer-Mitra was still engaging with the post and “writing poetically”.
The court had then issued a summons to Iyer-Mitra.
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