Delhi High Court Stays Publication Of Book 'The R*** School Murder'

The order was passed by a Single Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri, in an injunction application filed by the St. Xavier's Education Trust against author of the book, journalist Leena Dhankhar, publishers Juggernaut Books and Harper Collins, packager AAJ Enterprises and e-sellers Amazon and Flipkart.

"This Court is of the view that a prima facie case is made out. The balance of convenience is also in favour of the plaintiff and if no ad interim injunction is granted, irreparable loss would be caused," the Court said.

In the book, Dhankhar claims to have untangled the 'messy threads' of the horrific murder of Prince (fictitious name), a Class II student, whose dead body was recovered from the washroom of the R*** International School, Gurugram, Haryana in September 2017.

In the injunction application, the St. Xavier's Trust claimed that the very title of the impugned book with the catch line 'A seven-year-old is found dead in a bathroom. Who killed him?' is objectionable and defamatory to the school managed by it, and is designed to gain cheap publicity at the cost of their reputation.

The Plaintiff submitted that if the book is published, its school will suffer grave loss of reputation and business as people will come under an impression that the school was responsible for the murder.

It submitted, "The title of the 'Book' is suggestive and sensational and its release will set in a panic reaction amongst the parents of the students and shall also cause catastrophic effect on the reputation of the 'School'."

The Plaintiff thus urged that the Defendants should be restrained from publishing the book and should be directed to change the title thereof.

Reliance was placed on an order dated January 8, 2018, passed by the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Gurugram, while hearing the plea of juvenility moved by the accused in the murder case. The ASJ Court had ordered that the child in conflict with law shall be known by a fictious name and the school shall be referred to as 'Vidyalaya'.

The Plaintiff had thus urged that the words 'R*** School' be removed from the impugned book.

Inter alia, the Plaintiff reserved the rights to seek relief against the contents of the book, after having read the same.

In view of the above, the Court has restrained the Defendants from releasing the book until further orders. It has also restrained Amazon and Flipkart from taking any further orders on the book or executing any pending orders for the same.

The Defendants had opposed pre-publication injunction, asserting their right to freedom of speech and expression. It was also stated that many articles, reports, etc. are in public domain naming the school, and there is no longer an issue of privacy.

The Court however held,

"The plaintiff, concededly, is not privy to its contents and is only alarmed and offended by its title where the name of the 'School' is prominently mentioned. At this stage, without commenting on the competing rights of the parties i.e., the right of the plaintiff to protect its reputation versus the defendant's right of free speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India and despite the fact that the plaintiff has approached the Court at the eleventh hour seeking pre-publication injunction, I am persuaded by the fact that the Court of learned ASJ, Gurugram has already passed an order protecting the identity of the CCIL and restrained the reportage from disclosing the name of the 'School'- which has been directed to be referred to as 'Vidyalya'. In view of the above, this Court is of the view that reference to the name of the 'School' in the title of the 'Book' will compromise the aforementioned order."

It further directed the defendants to provide a copy of the impugned Book to the Trust, for it to have an informed view of its contents and see if it violates its rights as alleged in the suit.

The Court however cautioned the Plaintiff to ensure that the Book or its contents are not shared with any third party and the commercial rights of the Defendants are not compromised in any manner.

The matter is now listed for hearing on May 10, 2021.

Case Title: St Xavier's Education Trust v. Leena Dhankar & Ors.

Case No.: CS(OS) 51/2021

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