Google Inc., (Defendant No. 2) YouTube LLC, (Defendant No. 3) Google
Plus, (Defendant No. 4) Twitter International Company, (Defendant No. 5)
and Ashok Kumar (`John Does‟), (Defendant No. 6) seeking a permanent
and mandatory injunction, as also damages. For the sake of convenience, the
Defendants and their various websites, social media platforms, URLs,
weblinks etc., are collectively referred to as ―Platforms‖.
2.
The allegation of the Plaintiffs is that various defamatory remarks and
information including videos, based on a book titled ‗Godman to Tycoon –
the Untold Story of Baba Ramdev‘ are being disseminated over the
Defendants‟ platforms. The Plaintiffs submit that the defamatory content
contained in the said book was subject matter of a judgment passed in CM
(M) 556/2018, wherein a ld. Single Judge of this Court had restrained the
publisher and author from publishing, distributing and selling the book
without deleting the offending portions. The allegations contained in the
videos, which have been uploaded on the Defendants‟ platforms are in fact
the defamatory allegations contained in the book which have already been
directed to be removed. The said judgment was challenged by the publisher
before the Supreme Court and the same is pending. It is however submitted
that there is no stay of the order/judgement.
3.
The suit was listed on 21st January, 2019, on which date, notice was
directed to be served on the Defendants. On 24th January, 2019, after hearing
ld. Counsels for the parties, the following order was passed:
“6.
A perusal of the transcript of the video shows
that similar allegations as contained in the offending
portions of the book which were directed to be deleted,
are also contained in the video. The said judgment has
been appealed against in the Supreme Court. However,
CS (OS) 27/2019
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