New Delhi, Apr 9 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed social media platforms X and Instagram to take down certain posts carrying a video of BJP leader Shazia Ilmi in which she was seen withdrawing herself from a live news debate and moving out of the shooting frame.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora passed the order after being informed that certain users had uploaded the contentious video despite there being judicial orders for its removal.

On April 4, the court said recording and publishing the part of the video, in which Ilmi was seen withdrawing herself from a live debate and moving out of the shooting frame, violated her “right to privacy”. The show was hosted by journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.

Sardesai was in August 2024 directed by way of an interim order to take down the video from his personal X handle.

On April 4, the court confirmed the interim order.

The controversy arose after Ilmi took part in a debate Sardesai hosted on the news channel in July 2024 on the Agniveer scheme row.

After some sharp exchanges between the two, Ilmi left the show midway.

Later, the veteran journalist put out a video and a post on X which Ilmi claimed were objectionable and a violation of her privacy.

“The show was over, my consent was over. Thereafter, I can’t be recorded in my personal space without my consent” Ilmi’s counsel had contended in the court.

The court said Sardesai and the channel he was hosting the show on, could not have recorded or used the portion of the video in the absence of Ilmi’s express consent.

On Wednesday, the court heard Ilmi’s plea alleging certain users uploaded the video on social media platforms.

The court also directed X, formerly Twitter, to take action within a week against the social media accounts for violating the court orders and file a compliance report.

It further asked X to provide the basic subscriber information of those account holders to the plaintiff who would then take steps for the issuance of notice to them, asking why action be not initiated against them for violating court orders.

On April 4, the court had imposed Rs 25,000 costs on Ilmi for “wilfully suppressing” complete facts in her plea alleging defamation and violation of her privacy during a show hosted by Sardesai.

The court said if Ilmi did not want the act of removing her microphone to be recorded, she should have first asked the video journalist recording her to stop, confirmed it and then proceeded to remove her microphone. PTI SKV AMK