Overview
- The High Court issued an interim order restraining more than 30 named people, outlets, and platforms from publishing or circulating content said to defame Ashu Reddy until a lower court rules on her injunction plea.
- The intervention followed a trial court’s refusal to grant urgent ex parte relief, which led Reddy to challenge that decision before Justice P. Sam Koshy.
- In its order, the court stressed privacy and dignity under Article 21 and said free speech is limited by Article 19(2), finding that continued publication risked irreversible harm to her reputation and livelihood.
- Reddy’s suit targets reports, videos, and posts tied to an FIR registered with Hyderabad’s Central Crime Station, and it seeks takedowns and a perpetual bar across television, websites, YouTube, and social media.
- The High Court told the trial court to decide the injunction independently, a move that offers temporary relief to the actor and highlights a wider trend of courts granting time-bound restraints in digital defamation cases.