The Bombay High Court restrained film magazine Stardust and its printer-publisher from reproducing three articles allegedly defaming leading actress Shilpa Shetty until a Rs 20 crore suit filed by her was disposed of.

The injunction was granted by justice Hemant Gokhale, who heard a notice of motion taken out by the actress' lawyer Satish Maneshinde against the magazine, Magna Publications Ltd (printer) and Nari Hira (publisher).

The court rejected Stardust's plea to stay the order for two weeks.

The actress had dragged the defendents to the court claiming Rs 20 crore as damages after they published three articles in the Stardust issues of November-2000, December 2000 and January 2001.

The articles had alleged that Shilpa had developed relations with a married man and that after she broke her affair with action hero Akshay Kumar, the actress got involved with actor Salman Khan, who helped her get film roles.

Shilpa said the articles were per se defamatory and had tarnished her image in the film industry in particular and society in general. Her lawyer contended that the allegations were false and imaginary.

The defendant counsel, Virag Tulzapurkar, opposed the notice of motion contending that the actress could not impose restrictions on the freedom of the press.

He said Shilpa had herself given an interview to the magazine in July last year commenting on her relationship with costars, based on which the latter had offered comments.

Therefore she could not raise the bogey of defamation now because her own interview had invited comments from the costars, he pleaded.

Shilpa's counsel, Satish Maneshinde, argued that the magazine had defamed the actress but promoted costars Akshay Kumar and Salman Khan by prominently carrying the views of the latter.

He said the actress had all along maintained that both the stars were good friends and there was no relationship beyond that.

Shilpa's suit was earlier admitted by the High Court.

PTI