A Small Causes court in Srinagar passed an order on December 21 restraining the father of JNU activist Shehla Rashid from causing interference in her life and publishing any material through media or other means which has the potential to cause harassment, agony or pain to her or is defamatory in nature. The court also directed media from publishing, telecasting or broadcasting anything related to the matrimonial life of Shehla’s mother and father or any material that has the potential to defame her and her mother and sister.
The order was passed by the Small Causes court judge Fayaz Ahmad Qureshi in a suit filed by Shehla, her mother Zubeida Akhtar and sister Asma Rashid seeking a permanent injunction against her father Abdul Rashid Shora and the media. The court asked the media outlets to suspend online links containing any content that is defamatory or violates the right to privacy of the plaintiffs. “The media is also under legal duty to ascertain the truth and abstain from reporting on a matter which has a potential of infringement of right to privacy or other rights of the plaintiff”, the order read.
Shehla, her mother and her sister had contended before the court that Abdul Rashid Shora had made attempts to defame and lower their reputation by levelling false allegations against them that included calling them ‘anti-national elements’. The court said that the conduct of Shehla’s father seemed unjustified and lacking any sound legal basis. The court added that Shora seemed to have approached the media with an intention to create a hype around private matrimonial issues. The court said the Shora violated a previous order of a lower court passed under the Domestic Violence Act that restrained him from harassing the plaintiffs.
The court has allowed the defendants to approach it for modification, alteration or cancellation of the restraining order by the next hearing in the matter scheduled on December 30, 2020.
Rs 10 crore defamation suit against her father
Earlier this month, a Kashmiri businessman and politician Feroz Pirzada had filed a Rs 10 crore defamation suit against Shehla’s father after the latter alleged that his daughter had mysterious financial dealings with Feroz Peerzada, another Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali and Rasheed Engineer, an ex-MLA. Shora had said that Shehla has been colluding with anti-India forces and getting paid for it.
Shora alleged that he received death threats from Shehla
Last month, Shehla’s father had filed a complaint against her alleging that he was facing death threats from his own daughter. In his letter addressed to has approached the office of DGP, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Shora threw light on her daughter’s “notorious activities” and urged the Jammu and Kashmir police to investigate her bank accounts, the property acquired by her at New Delhi, her email accounts and her mysterious financial dealings.