Mumbai: Giving a prima facie opinion, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday said the fundamental right to free speech is always on a higher pedestal than reputation.
The observation was made while directing manufacturers of Parachute oil not to take any action against a YouTuber, who had made a critical video on the former's product.
A bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre was hearing an appeal filed by YouTuber Abhijeet Bhansali, challenging the orders of a single-judge bench of the HC.
Bhansali was last month ordered by Justice Shahrukh Kathawalla to pull down the video. According to the oil's manufacturers, Bhansali, in his video, had conducted an ‘experiment’ on the quality of the oil and concluded that Parachute is not pure coconut oil.
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The bench of Justice Kathawalla, while observing that social media influencers need to be cautious while exercising their fundamental right to speech, had ordered Bhansali to pull down the video.
However, the division bench led by CJ Nandrajog opined that the freedom to speech is always on a higher pedestal. “The existing law on defamation says no one can make a false statement of a fact.
However, an opinion cannot be held as a fact, irrespective of how bad the opinion is,” CJ Nandrajog observed.
The judges accordingly ordered the parties to resolve the issues pertaining to the video. “The manufacturers can suggest which parts of the video are objectionable and accordingly Bhansali can delete those scenes. But he cannot be asked to pull down the video, till further orders,” CJ Nandrajog said.
