Bombay High Court: The present suit was filed as Respondent 1 posted on his YouTube channel titled “Marunadan Malayali”, a post by which several defamatory statements were made against applicant. A Single Judge Bench of Arif S. Doctor, J., opined that the statements used in the said post were per se defamatory and indeed reckless and thus, clarified that the offending post from the YouTube channel was to be deleted by Respondent 1 on immediate receipt of the present order.
Counsel for applicant submitted that the service of one of the former employees of applicant was terminated due to various acts of misdeed on his part and it was in connection with this incident that Respondent 1 had posted on his YouTube channel. It was also submitted that the statements used in the post were not made on instructions of the former employee and Respondent 1 was a complete outsider to applicant and thus, had no justifiable basis or knowledge to make such statement.
It was also submitted that Respondent 1 had been arrested for forgery and was habitual in using his YouTube channel as a medium to make false and defamatory statements and the post in relation to applicant’s name got 540053 views and thus was widely being viewed and circulated, thereby impacting applicant’s reputation.
The Court noted that (i) an order dated 26-05-2023 was passed by the Delhi High Court against Respondent 1 in Yusuffali Musaliam Veettil Abdul Kader v. Shajan Skariah, CS(COMM) 360 of 2023 and (ii) an order was passed by the Additional Sub Judge-III, both of which directed Respondent 1 to take down certain defamatory material posted by him on his YouTube channel.
The Court took note of the transcript of the post and opined that the statements used in the said post were per se defamatory and indeed reckless. Thus, the Court held that applicant had made out a case for the grant of ad interim relief, i.e, to direct Respondent 1 and all other acting for and on his behalf to take down/remove the post and/or any other videos identical to, or similar in content, and/or any other videos and/or content in any format, including but not limited to use of pictures, names, images, likeness that violate the rights of applicant, in line with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021; from You Tube and other social website/platform.
The Court clarified that the offending post from the YouTube channel was to be deleted by Respondent 1 on immediate receipt of the present order and failing which Respondent 2 shall do so on intimation of the failure of Respondent 1 by applicant.
The matter would next be listed on 20-08-2024.
[Malabar Gold Ltd. v. Shajan Skariah, 2024 SCC OnLine Bom 2601, decided on 07-08-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Applicant: Karl Tamboly a/w Nidhi Singh, Ishan Gambhir, Shubham Khairee, Akshata Parkar i/by India Law LLP.
For the Respondents: Vinuta Rayadurg i/by Economic Laws Practice.