HC restrains Jindal & other Social Media Websites from propagating report disparaging Kamdhenu TMT Steel Bars

November 12,2018:

On 6^th of November 2018, a suit titled as Kamdhenu Limited v. Jindal Steel and Power Limited and Ors. having case number 1229/2018 was listed at the Delhi High Court, for an urgent hearing which was heard by Hon’ble Justice Rajiv Sahai Endlaw.

Even though the Court was closed on the eve of Diwali, the single matter was listed before the Hon’ble court in order to decide the case of brand disparagement and defamation filed by Kamdhenu Limited.

Brief Facts of the Case

A private company named First Construction Council (FCC) published a report named “Is India’s 5.7 Trillion Infrastructure Investment at Risk?” in which it claimed that 26 steel companies manufacturing TMT Steel Bars were put to various laboratory tests to test the strength of their respective TMT steel bars.

As per the claims made in the report, 18 companies out of 26 have failed the lab tests which included Kamdhenu Limited. In the said report Kamdhenu TMT steel bars were specifically targeted to have low quality TMT steel bars.

Thereafter FCC and various entities published videos, pictures and leaflets on social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and WhatsApp claiming the Kamdhenu TMT Steel bars were of poor quality.

In order to prevent dissemination of false information about Kamdhenu TMT Steel Bars and to prevent any further defamation of the brand Kamdhenu, the present suit was filed. The court during the hearing, acknowledged that FCC is only a private entity and is not a government authorized body.

Jindal, Facebook and YouTube Restrained  

On considering all the facts and existing laws, The Hon’ble High Court of Delhi passed an Ex-Parte Interim Injunction Order restraining FCC along with Jindal steel, Facebook and YouTube to block all the impugned defamatory videos, leaflets, pictures and any other information which displays, disseminates, propagates the questioned report titled as “Is India’s 5.7 trillion infrastructure investment at risk?” until final adjudication of the matter.

High Court further went on to specifically direct WhatsApp to act in accordance with the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and take appropriate actions to remove the impugned content from the WhatsApp application.

Court’s Direction

The Hon’ble High Court directed the defendants (FCC and Jindal Steel along with the social media platforms) to take down all such defamatory/disparaging videos/ leaflets/ pictures and other such content that is misleading and is already being circulated over the internet, so that no more such unfounded information is circulated that harms or causes a threat to the image of Kamdhenu.

Read Order @LatestLaws.com:

Delhi High Court Order (Download PDF)

Delhi High Court Order by Latest Laws Team on Scribd