Image is for representational purposes only. File | Photo credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (February 11, 2026) reprimanded a lawyer for a “defamatory” Facebook post targeting another woman who had accused Kerala Congress MLA Rahul Mamkoottathila of rape.
“Being a lady, what comments have you made about other women. If it was a man who wrote all this nonsense, we would have him arrested ourselves,” said Supreme Court Senator Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi while refusing to grant Deepa Joseph’s plea.
Joseph was arrested by the Kerala Police in connection with the social media post. The Bench initially expressed serious displeasure with the language and tone of the submission. “You are expected to write in this type of language? You are a supporter,” the CJI said.
The lawyer said the content of her post was based on information provided by the complainant’s husband, who had leveled rape allegations against the Congress lawmaker, and nothing was defamatory. “Do we expect a female practicing attorney to write all these things?” asked the CJI.
The appellant insisted that she had not written anything defamatory and had not disclosed the identity of the victim. The bench said the language was most derogatory to a woman and asked how a woman could write like that against another.
“You have not spared a single word in your dictionary. And yet you are not sorry! We are to read publicly what you have written,” asked the Bench.
“If the husband has come forward and confided in you because you are an advocate, then you will disclose that confidential information,” the Bench asked. The Bench questioned whether the lawyer was engaged by the appellant’s husband to write “all that nonsense”. “That’s no nonsense, sir,” said the lawyer. The bench dismissed the plea and asked the lawyer to approach the High Court for relief.
Published – 11 Feb 2026 18:51 IST