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DNA (April 16, 2015)

On a lot of social networking sites, there are reports of Salman Khan threatening a blogger to take down two posts that he had written on his Bandra accident. We have managed to get our hands on the legal notice sent to the blogger. Says a source, “No way has Salman ever threatened this blogger. In fact they had no interaction with each other. This notice was sent to him and no part of it is a threat. He is well within his rights to protect his public image. This was a case of defamation. There was no proof, else the blogger would not have taken down the posts.” The legal document raises the following points.

l The two articles written about Salman dated June 26 and June 27 2013, titled ‘The wretched witness’ and ‘Ravindra Patil — the death of a messenger’, have Salman’s picture and make uncremonious, biased, false and reckless accusation. “Everybody knows that one person was killed and four others were killed when an inebriated Salman Khan rammed his Landcruiser onto the steps of A1 Bakery at the turning near Mehboob Studio in the wee hours of September 28, 2002,” — the first article states.

l The second article states, “It was unclear who was putting pressure on Patil — some say they were all well-wishers of Salman Khan from the police force while others say those talking to Patil were Salman’s common friends from the film industry. Whoever, they were, the pressure tactic seemed to be working as Patil was showing signs of a nervous breakdown.

l It further reads, “By stating that our client has killed a person and injured pavement dwellers and by using words ‘one person was killed’, ‘rammed his landcruiser’, ‘Inebriated Salman Khan’, you have wilfully stated as facts which are at the highest mere allegations. The charges may involve culpable homicide not amounting to murder.”

l Says that these reckless, irresponsible and defamatory allegations have defamed Salman and lowered his reputation in the eyes of the public. Also it seems like the story is instigating the public to believe that Salman was responsible for the death of Ravindra Patil.

l The defemation suit has asked for the articles to be withdrawn with immediate effect, tender a public apology on the website within two days of the suit being sent and damages of One Hundred Crore rupees to be paid within one week for the notice being received.

Other defamation suits in the west
In 2005, Cameron Diaz won her libel lawsuit against British newspaper The Sun today, over the publication’s claim she had an affair with a married man.

In 2013, Tom Cruise won $50 million lawsuit against Bauer Publishing for publishing a article saying he was a bad father. And had abandoned his daughter Suri.

In 2014, Scarlett Johanssan won a defamation case against a French author.She sued Delacourt for making false claims about her private life in his novel where the fictional character who was not really Johansson had two affairs that the real Johansson never had. It was, she said, defamatory — and a French judge agreed. The court awarded her just €2,500, plus €2,500 in legal costs.

Sharon Stone sued plastic surgeon Renato Calabria for allegedly telling both U.S. Weekly and Touch Magazine that she had undergone a facelift. Stone claimed that these statements defamed her and made it difficult for her to find work.

Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake settled their defamation case against celebrity magazine Heat at the High Court in Dublin. After the magazine apologised to the couple over an article published in September’s edition under the headline. “Justin Timberlake gets flirty with another woman, it’s not his wife!”