Delhi Judicial officer’s ‘sexually explicit’ video surfaces online, High Court bars circulation

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday barred the sharing and posting of a “sexually explicit” video of a judicial officer and a woman that surfaced on social media on November 29.

The High Court observed that besides being in violation of several laws, circulation of the video would cause irreparable harm to the privacy rights of the petitioner, and an ad interim ex-parte injunction was therefore warranted.

Justice Yashwant Varma said that the court has itself taken cognisance of the incident on its administrative side, and its registrar general has conveyed to authorities the need to take appropriate action for blocking the video over all messaging and social media platforms as well as through internet service providers.

“Bearing in mind the sexually explicit nature of the contents of that video and taking into consideration the imminent, grave and irreparable harm that is likely to be caused to the privacy rights of the petitioner an ad interim ex parte injunction is clearly warranted,” the court said in its order.

The court also asked the Centre to ensure that all further steps as warranted are taken and a compliance report is submitted in the matter.

The court issued notices to the Centre and social media platforms on the lawsuit and listed the case for further hearing on December 9.