7th Zenith Internal Moot Court Competition 2022

MOOT PROPOSITION

1. Indostan is a peninsula situated in the south of Asia and has a quasi-federal government
structure. The country has been poorly hit by the Demivid pandemic in 2020. Despite being
pioneers in the production of the Demivid vaccine, the country battled a rapid spread of the
Demivid virus. The second wave of the pandemic was extremely fatal and responsible for
the loss of hundreds of human lives.

2. One of the states to be affected the worst by the pandemic is Bongalistan. The state suffered
an acute shortage of essential drugs and people were not able to get vaccination doses in
time owing to the same. Bongolistan saw an outcry by people from all sections of the
community on account of the inaccessibility to vaccines to protect themselves from the
pandemic that took the death toll to a record high. Despite protests and various non-
governmental organizations demanding access to the vaccine, all pleas fell on deaf ears.

3. The State of Bongalistan held its elections four months ago and in an unexpected turn of
events, the ‘Tristar’ party won with a sweeping majority and appointed its leader, Ms.
Lucita Binner, as their Chief Minister. In fact, Bongalistan is one of the fewer states in
Indostan to have a woman as their chief minister. Indo Raika, the ruling party at the Centre,
failed to win even a single seat in Bongalistan. Ever since the declaration of the election
results in the state, the political atmosphere has been tense. The two factions often engage
in conflicts.

4. The appointment of Mr. Sangitan as the Governor of Bongolistan was the beginning of
increased tensions between the State and the Centre. The Governor was extremely critical
of the Chief Minister and could be seen criticizing the government on its handling of the
pandemic. The Governor, time and again, in several of his interviews with news channels,
has alleged that the Chief Minister and several of her party’s ministers are involved in a
drug racket. As a result, essential drugs such as the ‘Omdaxin’ are being hoarded and as a
consequence, inaccessible to the general public. These drugs are then sold at exorbitant
prices to the general public.

5. The pandemic brought a halt to the usual hustle of the people, forcing them into long
continuing lockdowns. With people working remotely and with time at their expense, they
began their engagement with digital content. The Over-The-Top (“OTT”) industry
witnessed a tremendous boom in Indostan with the entry of global digital OTT players such
as Holaflix, Zonama, Neystar, etc. The OTT platforms offer content of various genres
ranging from thrillers, sci-fi, political dramas, etc. to rope in viewers of all age groups.

6. In first week of April 2022, Zonama launched a political drama called the ‘The Chief
Minister’s Chains: Twisting the Acreage of Peace’ (“series”). The series is heralded as a
show ‘presented by Zonama’. The series portrays how a female politician led her regional
political party to victory in the state of BongoStan and went on to become its first woman
chief minister. The series bore an uncanny resemblance to the Chief Minister of
Bongalistan. The female lead in the series was depicted to dress as Lucita Binner, and speak
in a typically accented manner, quite akin to Lucita Binner. The main plot of the series
showcased how the chief minister engaged in bribing the general public to earn votes and
election booth hijacking, as well as the adoption of corrupt practices and acts of kidnapping

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and murder of journalists and spokespersons to silence anyone who spoke out against the
party. As the plot progressed, BongoStan was depicted as the state where rat fever broke
out. It gradually spread to the other states of the country, rapidly transforming into a deadly
pandemic. People in BongoStan were seen dying without recourse to appropriate
medication. A sting operation was conducted to reveal that the ruling party in the state was
blocking access to medicines and selling them on the black market at high prices. Upon
revelation, the chief minister was ousted and saw an acrimonious exit as the leader of the
party.

7. The directors of the series have been seen to support Indo Raika on public platforms and
owe their allegiance to the party. Post the release of the series, rival political parties in
Bongolistan engaged in mob fights, public order was disturbed, and it incited violence
within Bongolistan.

8. Within a few days of the release of the series, the Governor of Bongolistan took to ‘Flitr
Chat’, an online platform to share posts, personal thoughts and messages, to share his
thoughts on the series, and also added hashtags in the name of the series. The Governor
posted –

“Now my countrymen will get to witness the reality of Bongolistan. It has been laid bare.
The Chief Minister is a failed bureaucrat who has sold off the state to goons. Greed has
gotten best of her. People in the state are helpless and losing their loved ones. The Chief
Minister has never been able to demonstrate political competence. I have seen her antics
since her college days. Only bribes have gotten her ahead so far. She has deep pockets.
The rightful entitlement of resources of the people has been snatched away by her.”

9. This post by the Governor took the internet on a wild ride and led to a series of violent acts
in public and over the internet. The state witnessed great unrest amongst the public. People
started sharing this post and adding hateful and inciteful comments and reactions against
the Chief Minister and the Tristar party. Many even resorted to violence and burnt portraits
of the Chief Minister and vandalized public property, and also protested in front of the
Chief Minister’s residence.

10. Enraged by the Governor’s post, the series and the reactions therefrom, the government of
Bongolistan made an application to the President of Indostan for removal of the Governor
on the ground that the Governor’s post on Flitr Chat is nothing but wrong and derogatory
against the Government of Bongolistan. The President, on the advice of the Union Council
of Ministers, approved the removal of the Governor, with immediate effect.

11. Simultaneously, the Government of Bongolistan also filed a single defamation complaint,
through the Public Prosecutor, against the Governor, and Zonoma and the production
company, Seven Stars, in the Court of Sessions at Kandolistan.

12. The Governor challenged his removal before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Indostan by
way of filing a writ petition, basis the ground of his removal being unjustified. The
Governor also challenged his removal on the account of difference in opinion and being at
variance with the functioning of the Government of Bongolistan and insisted on being made
aware of the advice of the Union Council of Ministers tendered to the President. The

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Governor also requested the matter instituted in the Court of Sessions to be transferred
before the Hon’ble Supreme Court and be heard along with the instant petition.

13. As per the reporting of a leading regional newspaper, News Today, Zonama portrayed
confidence in the success of the instant case and mentioned that the series was a fictional
show and there were appropriate disclaimers put in place indicating that the series is a work
of fiction. It bore no resemblance to the Chief Minister of Bongolistan. The show was
ideated by Seven Stars long before the elections in Bongolistan. Zonoma also stated that it
does not have any liability in this case as its participation is in the capacity of an
intermediary. Zonama further added that it reserves the right to edit titles to be published
on its platform, but it had not exercised its editorial powers in relation to the series in
question. Hence, it was only an intermediary and had essentially licensed the title from the
producers and published the same on its platform.

14. The Hon’ble Supreme Court admitted the Writ Petition to determine the validity of the
removal of the Governor of Bongolistan and ordered the transfer of the matter pending in
the Court of Sessions before it. The Hon’ble Supreme Court scheduled a hearing in the
combined matters on June 12, 2022, and framed the following issues –

a. Whether the removal of the Governor was constitutionally valid?

b. Whether the allegation of defamation against the Governor is valid in law?

c. Whether the defamation claim lies against Zonoma and Seven Stars for the released
series?

d. Whether Zonoma is entitled to protection from liability on the grounds of being an

intermediary in light of the Intermediary Guidelines?

Notwithstanding the foregoing issues, participants are allowed to frame additional issues.

Note: The laws of Indostan are para materia to the laws of India, including the judgments
delivered by the Supreme Court of India and various High Courts of India. The participants are
expected to bring to the court’s attention, the relevant jurisprudence, which may include
judgments and opinions delivered by courts of common law nations.

Disclaimer: All facts mentioned in the above proposition are purely fictious and any
resemblance to any person, place, situation is purely coincidental.