Right to privacy of a public figure not sacrificial: Bombay High Court in Shilpa Shetty defamation case hearing

Actor Shilpa Shetty approached Bombay High Court against the media houses allegedly for posting defamatory content against her. She made the defendants jointly and severally liable for the damages caused due to derogatory and defamatory publications. However, the court ordered to scrutinize the degree of defamatory stature by the defendants respectively.

The court observed that an interim injunction to gag the media cannot be passed but also the right of privacy of a public figure cannot be compromised. The line between “right to privacy” and “freedom of press” is to be balanced. Hence, the Single Judge Bench of Justice Gautam Patel made some effective observations on freedom of press maintaining boundaries to ensure privacy to the Bollywood Actor. 

Firstly, the Privacy of every citizen including a public figure, cannot be sacrificed. The Court mentioned that any of the publications should not be defamatory to the parenting of Ms. Shetty child which comes under the wider scope of the right of privacy recognized by the Supreme Court. Secondly, targeting Ms. Shetty the court said it cannot supervise every news as supervising such editorial content of the various media houses is dangerous.

Therefore, the bench observed, “There is some tension between what is mentioned in Puttuswamy case and the right to freedom of speech and expression” in the present case.

The Right of privacy of the actor was maintained as the court directed few media houses to remove derogatory videos and posts available online but also declared the information received from Crime Branch or Police as legitimate and non-defamatory. Hence, the freedom of press was balanced with the privacy and reputation of the public figure.