Nothing To Show Journalism Standards Compromised: Bombay HC Grants Interim Relief To Indian Express In ₹100 Cr Defamation Suit Against Website

Justice Manish Pitale observed that no justification is given for publication of articles alleging that Kuber compromised high standards of journalism.

“…it is found that there does not appear to be even prima facie justification offered by the said Defendants for publishing the said news reports/articles in its e-paper. Although reference is made to the alleged compromise with the high standards of journalism due to the actions of the Plaintiff No. 2 (Girish Kuber), there are no details forthcoming… There does not appear to be any justification placed before this Court on behalf of the Defendant Nos. 1 and 2”, the court observed.

Indian Express has filed a defamation suit and sought damages of Rs. 100 Crore against Umesh Gujarathi and King Branding Pvt Ltd for publishing articles in Sprouts alleging that Kuber compromised journalistic principles.

The court was dealing with Indian Express’ interim application in the suit seeking ad-interim reliefs.

The court had earlier granted an ad-interim order directing the defendants not to republish, repost, forward and circulate the alleged defamatory news articles or anything containing similar allegations.

Indian Express added WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter as defendants to the suit to ensure compliance with court order. However, it conceded that it is difficult to ensure compliance from WhatsApp as it cannot control individual messages.

The court allowed Indian Express to amend the cause title and include proper names and addresses of WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.

The court opined that the articles in question are prima facie defamatory and if ad interim reliefs are not granted then Indian Express will continue to suffer grave and irreparable loss.

Therefore, the court directed Gujarathi and King Branding to remove the alleged defamatory news reports from page, cache, and archives of Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and any other social media platform or website.

The court also restrained Gujarathi and King Branding from republishing, reposting, uploading, forwarding and circulating the alleged defamatory news in its website, e-paper, their Facebook and Twitter accounts, and WhatsApp.

The court directed Facebook and Twitter to remove the URLs containing the alleged defamatory news if Gujarathi and King Branding do not comply with the aforementioned directions.

The court fixed the application for further consideration on July 12, 2023

Case no. – Suit No. 72 of 2023

Case Title – The Indian Express (P) Ltd. & Anr. v. Unmesh Padmakar Gujarathi & Ors.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 270