The City Civil Court in Mumbai on Wednesday restrained self-proclaimed film critic/actor Kamaal Rashid Khan aka KRK from publishing defamatory content against Hindi film actor Salman Khan, his family members or business associates. “Reputation and honour are no less precious to good men than bodily safety and freedom,’’ said City Civil Court Judge C V Marathe after temporarily restraining KRK from making any statements.
Salman Khan had filed an application to restrain K R Khan and nine others from making any defamatory posts or publications including about his film ‘Radhe’. The actor’s counsel Pradeep Gandhy submitted that the posts were defamatory adding that while there is no restriction on commenting on a film or the performance of the cast, but “personal allegations against Salman Khan are baseless’’.
The court on Wednesday restrained KRK, his agents from directly or indirectly making and uploading videos, posting, re-posting, tweeting, re-tweeting, giving interviews, corresponding, communicating, uploading, printing, publishing, re-publishing any further or other defamatory/slanderous content, posts, messages, tweets, videos, interviews, communications and correspondence in relation to the Salman Khan, his business, present or future projects, including Radhe (a Salman Khan-starrer film which released last month).
This temporary injunction shall continue till the final disposal of the suit. The court, in its order, held that a person is identified by his name and a good name is better than great riches. “A good reputation is an element of personal security and is protected by the constitution equally with the right to the enjoyment of life, liberty and property,” it held.
The court found that Kamaal R Khan exceeded the boundary of freedom and made prima facie libelous remarks on the actor’s films which are “actionable”.
Meanwhile, KRK, has claimed that he is yet to receive a copy of the court order. Reacting to the news development, KRK wrote on Twitter, “Till now, I have not received Court order copy but I read in media reports that court has asked me to not say anything defamatory against #Salmankhan! I have never said anything defamatory in the past and I won’t say in the future also. I just review films honestly and I will do.”
He further added that, “I just want to inform media that I haven’t received court order copy till now. But if the order will be unsatisfactory, then I will go to High Court and even supreme Court. I will fight to protect my rights of freedom of speech. Thanks!”
With inputs from PTI