MUMBAI: Shilpa Shetty has received a reprieve with the Supreme Court refusing to vacate a Bombay High Court's interim order that restrained film magazine Stardust from publishing some articles on her personal life.

A bench of judges comprising Arijit Pasayat and P Sathasivam has asked the High Court to explore the possibility of disposing off the Rs 200 million defamation suit filed by Shetty against the magazine in 2001, reports PTI.

The magazine was seeking to publish articles on Shilpa Shetty's alleged relationship with some of the male actors and also a married man, against which she obtained an interim injunction from a single judge of the Bombay High Court on 12 January 2001.

The single judge had passed the injunction after taking a prima facie view that the articles dealt with the actress' personal life and were defamatory in nature.

Magna Publishers, publishers of the magazine, moved a division bench of the High Court against the single judge's order that dismissed it, following which the publishers appealed in the apex court.

The apex court, while declining to express any opinion on the merits of the case, said it found no reason to interfere with the interim order passed by the single judge and upheld by the division bench.

However, it asked the High Court to explore the possibility of disposing off the suit at an early date.