The Bombay High Court on Wednesday accepted actor Payal Ghosh’s unconditional apology to actor Richa Chadha and disposed of the defamation suit against her.

In the undertaking, Ghosh has agreed to withdraw and delete all defamatory statements, posts and videos against Chadha. The suit for damages of Rs 1.1 crore will, however, continue against the Telugu news channel that first aired Ghosh’s interview, which contained the defamatory remarks, and actor Kamaal R Khan for reproducing the defamatory content.

Justice AK Menon accepted the consent terms in the form of an undertaking to the court, making its breach contemptuous under provisions of the Contempt of Courts Act.

As per the terms, not only will the ‘defamatory’ content be withdrawn, Ghosh has undertaken not to “state, make, publish any defamatory or humiliating statement’s against the plaintiff (Chadha) in perpetuity”, related to the subject.

The actors have further decided not to file any civil suit or criminal case against each other in this regard.

The consent terms assume importance as Ghosh had denied agreeing to give an apology hours after her lawyer informed the court that she was Chadha’s “big fan” and had “innocently” made those statements against her, last week.

During that hearing the court had passed a John Doe order, which is an order against unknown people restraining them from making any defamatory statements against people. While Khan’s lawyer said he would contest the suit, he claimed to have “no intention of repeating his tweets” or making similar remarks against Chadha.

The news channel ABN Telugu informed the court that they have already pulled down the video.

According to the suit, the defamatory statements were first made by Payal in an interview against filmmaker Anurag Kashyap on September 19, and were reiterated in several other interviews. Richa, in her petition filed through advocate Saveena Bedi Sachar, said that the statements continued even after sending them a legal notice.

Richa stated that it was “evil and misogynistic” on Payal’s part to comment on her appearance and to “lynch” her hard-earned reputation in order to wrongfully gain publicity.

The defamation suit will continue against the news channel and Khan for damages of Rs 1.1 crore. Khan, who reproduced the allegations, informed the court that he wanted to contest the suit.

The case has now been adjourned for six weeks.