Social media posts criticising Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha’s decision to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could not, prima facie, be treated as a violation of his personality rights, the Delhi High Court observed on Thursday.Criticism over BJP switch not prima facie violation of personality rights: Delhi HC to Raghav Chadha (Sanchit Khanna/HT photo)Chadha, a former member of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), joined the BJP last month, along with six other AAP lawmakers, including Swati Maliwal and former cricketer Harbhajan Singh. Chadha filed a lawsuit before the high court against the publication of alleged malicious and fabricated social media posts that he said were gravely prejudicial to his reputation and personality rights.Senior advocate Rajiv Nayar, appearing for Chadha, contended there were posts with profane content, including where the politician is shown as having “sold himself away for money”.Reserving verdict on the aspect of interim relief to take down such alleged offending content, Justice Subramonium Prasad acknowledged that while an individual has the right to live with dignity, the right to free speech under the Constitution also cannot be taken away.The judge opined that the line between criticism and defamation was “quite thin” and that the case may not warrant grant of an interim injunction.Justice Prasad said: “Prima facie there is no personality right which is involved in this. A decision taken by you in your political arena is being criticised...As a political leader, can you be sensitive?”The judge further added: “The line between defamation and criticism is quite thin, and it’s very easy to slip to the other side, which affects your right to live with dignity… it might not be a case for an interim injunction to be handed down, unlike the other matters.”“Right from Independence, we have grown up seeing R K Laxman’s cartoons... In various ways criticism has been made on decisions taken politically, economically... Now social media has gone to greater extent. But still at the end of the day, it’s still within the realm of a comment by a person,” said justice Prasad.Meta’s lawyer opposed Chadha’s plea, contending that the posts were benign in nature and did not even contain his photograph.Meanwhile, Chadha has been nominated as the chairman of the Committee on Petitions of the Rajya Sabha, a Parliament notification said. This is the first time that Chadha has been given a chairmanship of a panel, which is decided by the Rajya Sabha chairman.An opposition leader quipped that the chairmanship was a “reward” to Chadha, who joined BJP last month along with six other AAP members.Chadha’s decision to join the BJP came days after the AAP removed him as the deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha over allegations that he was not raising key issues against the Union government and was instead doing “soft PR”.As a chairman, Chadha is entitled to an office and staff.