Bombay HC refuses to restrain Nawab Malik from addressing media against Wankhede

Mumbai, Nov 22 (UNI) The Bombay High Court on Monday refused to restrain Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik from posting against NCB’s Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede’s father and family.
The court passed the order on a defamation suit of Rs 1.25 crore filed by Dnyandev Wankhede, father of Sameer Wankhede against NCP leader Nawab Malik, for defaming his son and other family members. The senior Wankhede urging the court to restrain Malik from making any defamatory statements against the family till the disposal of his suit.

Passing the order, the court of Justice M Jamdar said that the Minister can make statements against Wankhede and his family, but only after reasonable verification. In a series of exposes in the past over seven weeks, Malik has accused Sameer of allegedly submitting a fake caste certificate to get a UPSC job in IRS cadre under a reserved category.
The Wankhedes rubbished the allegations as being false and baseless.

Noting that the ‘right to privacy’ must be balanced with the ‘freedom of speech’ and people have the right to comment on the doings of a person in official capacity, the court observed that serious allegations (of extortion) have been levelled against Wankhede by NCB witness Prabhakar Sail in the cruise party raid case.
Reacting on the court order, Nawab in a tweet from Dubai, said “Satyameva Jayate… The fight against wrongdoings will continue…”