The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued contempt of court notices to users of social media platform X for allegedly uploading videos of an altercation between Bharatiya Janata Party leader Shazia Ilmi and an India Today cameraperson, Bar and Bench reported.

Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora issued the order on a fresh application filed by Ilmi in her defamation suit against journalist Rajdeep Sardesai, according to Live Law. Arora also directed X and the technology company Meta to take down the videos uploaded to their platforms.

The incident occurred on July 26 when Ilmi was participating in a debate on India Today news channel. She left the debate midway after claiming that her mic was cut off by Sardesai with the intent to censor her.

In a social media post, Ilmi alleged that the cameraperson continued to film her after she had left the show despite her physical and emotional discomfort.

In response, Sardesai had uploaded a video on social media on July 27, denying Ilmi’s allegations that she was muted during the debate. The video showed Ilmi removing her mic, getting angry at the cameraperson for recording her and asking the video journalist to leave her house.

The journalist said that his channel’s cameraperson was only doing his job and there is no excuse for “bad behaviour”.

In August, the BJP leader filed a defamation suit against Sardesai. Days later, the court directed Sardesai and India Today to take down the video, noting that it had been recorded by the channel’s cameraperson after Ilmi withdrew herself from the television show.

On April 4, the court imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on Ilmi for suppressing facts in the suit. It noted that Ilmi had hidden two of her social media posts that were part of her conversation with Sardesai after he uploaded to social media the video featuring the BJP leader.

The court also noted that the video violated her right to privacy and cannot remain online.

In her fresh application after the ruling, Ilmi sought directions to X and Meta, which owns the social media platform Instagram, to take down eight posts uploaded by their users that featured 18 seconds of the impugned video, according to Live Law.

She claimed that one post featuring the video was uploaded on Instagram while others were uploaded on X.

During proceedings in the court, the counsel representing Meta told the judge that the post on Instagram was uploaded on July 24 and predated the order passed by the court in August, Live Law reported.

However, the court directed both X and Meta to take down the posts featuring the video.

It also noted that the users on X had uploaded the video after the April 4 order. Arora directed X to take action against the social media accounts for violating court orders in terms of their service agreement and the 2021 Information Technology Rules within a week.

The court also reiterated that the 18-second video violated Ilmi’s right to privacy, according to Bar and Bench.