St Thomas School And Ors vs Aman Gautam And Ors on 22 December, 2023

[Cites 3, Cited by 0]

Delhi High Court - Orders

St Thomas School And Ors vs Aman Gautam And Ors on 22 December, 2023

Bench: Sanjeev Narula

                                    $~8
                                    *           IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
                                    +           CS(OS) 867/2023
                                                ST THOMAS SCHOOL AND ORS                                                           ..... Plaintiffs
                                                                                      Through:                Mr. Rakesh Khanna, Senior Advocate
                                                                                                              with Mr. Davinder N. Grover,
                                                                                                              Mr. Harsh Gupta and Mr. Sarthak
                                                                                                              Tiwari, Advocates.

                                                                                      versus

                                                AMAN GAUTAM AND ORS                                                               ..... Defendants
                                                                                      Through:                None.

                                                CORAM:
                                                HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV NARULA
                                                                                      ORDER

% 22.12.2023 I.A. 26061/2023 (for exemption)

1. Exemption is granted, subject to all just exceptions.

2. The Plaintiffs shall file legible and clearer copies of exempted documents, compliant with practice rules, before the next date of hearing.

3. Accordingly, the application stands disposed of.

CAV 657/2023

4. The Plaintiffs have filed an affidavit of advance service of the plaint on Defendant No. 1 through e-mail addresses provided in the caveat. Despite such service, none appears on behalf of Defendant No. 1/ Caveator.

5. In these circumstances, considering the nature of relief sought and urgency expressed by Plaintiffs, the Court has proceeded to hear them on the CS(OS) 867/2023 Page 1 of 6 This is a digitally signed order.

6. Accordingly, the caveat is discharged.

I.A. 26063/2023 (seeking permission to place on record pen drive containing soft copy of some videos and social media posts by D-1)

7. The Plaintiff seeks the leave of the Court to place on record certain video recording(s), which form the subject matter of the present suit in a pen drive. Rule 24 of Chapter XI of the Delhi High Court (Original Side) Rules, 2018 makes it clear that electronic records can be received in CD/DVD/Medium encrypted with a hash value. The said Rule is extracted below: -

"24. Reception of electronic evidence -A party seeking to tender any electronic record shall do so in a CD/ DVD/ Medium, encrypted with a hash value, the details of which shall be disclosed in a separate memorandum, signed by the party in the form of an affidavit. This will be tendered along with the encrypted CD/ DVD/ Medium in the Registry. The electronic record in the encrypted CD/ DVD/ Medium will be uploaded on the server of the Court by the Computer Section and kept in an electronic folder which shall be labeled with the cause title, case number and the date of document uploaded on the server. Thereafter, the encrypted CD/ DVD/ Medium will be returned to the party on the condition that it shall be produced at the time of admission/denial of the documents and as and when directed by the Court/ Registrar. The memorandum disclosing the hash value shall be separately kept by the Registry on the file. The compliance with this rule will not be construed as dispensing with the compliance with any other law for the time being in force including Section 65B of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872."

8. Registry may receive electronic record on CD-ROM so long as it is encrypted with a hash value or in any other non-editable format. The video recording(s) contained in CD-ROM be placed in the electronic record of the present suit in a format which is non-editable, so that the same can be viewed by the Court during hearing.

9. Application is disposed of.

CS(OS) 867/2023 Page 2 of 6

This is a digitally signed order.

10. Let the plaint be registered as a suit.

11. Upon filing of process fee, issue summons to the Defendants by all permissible modes. Summons shall state that the written statement(s) shall be filed by the Defendants within 30 days from the date of receipt of summons. Along with the written statement(s), the Defendants shall also file affidavit(s) of admission/denial of the documents of the Plaintiff, without which the written statement(s) shall not be taken on record.

12. Liberty is given to the Plaintiff to file replication(s) within 15 days of the receipt of the written statement(s). Along with the replication(s), if any, filed by the Plaintiff, affidavit(s) of admission/denial of documents of the Defendants, be filed by the Plaintiff, without which the replication(s) shall not be taken on record. If any of the parties wish to seek inspection of any documents, the same shall be sought and given within the timelines.

13. List before the Joint Registrar for marking of exhibits on 29th February, 2024. It is made clear that any party unjustifiably denying documents would be liable to be burdened with costs.

14. List before Court for framing of issues thereafter.

I.A. 26062/2023 (under Order 39 Rule 1 and 2 CPC read with section 151 CPC for ad-interim ex parte stay)

15. Plaintiff No. 1 is a school, of which Plaintiff No. 2 is the Principal and Plaintiff No. 3 is the Trustee and Manager. Plaintiff No. 3 is also mother of Defendant No. 1. They seek an interim injunction against Defendant No. 1 from publishing defamatory and derogatory content against them on various social media platforms.

CS(OS) 867/2023 Page 3 of 6

This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 23/12/2023 at 03:40:49

16. The case, as presented by Mr. Rakesh Khanna, Senior Counsel for Plaintiffs, is as follows:

16.1. Defendant No. 1 is the erstwhile Director of Plaintiff No. 1. There are certain family disputes stated to have arisen between Plaintiff No. 3 and Defendant No. 1, which were amplified by Defendant No. 1 unauthorizedly withdrawing nearly Rs. 98 lakhs from the bank accounts of Plaintiff No. 1-

school and the Educational Trust governing Plaintiff No. 1. The Plaintiffs immediately reported the incident to the Police and criminal proceedings in this regard are currently ongoing.

16.2. Thereafter, Defendant No. 1 threatened Plaintiff No. 3 as well as the employees of Plaintiff No. 1 and made several attempts to forcibly enter the school's premises. Aggrieved, the Petitioners filed W.P.(CRL.) 1858/2023 for directions to police to provide security to the Plaintiffs as well as the staff/ children of Plaintiff No. 1, which was granted by this Court through interim order dated 05th July, 2023, and confirmed on 09th October, 2023. 16.3. In the meantime, Defendant No. 1, in order to malign the reputation and damage the image, goodwill, and popularity of Plaintiff No. 1, commenced posting defamatory content on his WhatsApp profile. These WhatsApp statuses displayed the pictures of Plaintiff No. 2, with denigrative remarks pertaining to her qualifications, physical appearance etc. Defendant No. 1 has also been uploading pictures of Plaintiff No. 3 with abusive and sexually coloured captions. Screenshots of the said posts are annexed at Pages No. 249 to 267 and Pages No. 327 to 332 of the Plaintiffs' documents. 16.4. Defendant No. 1 has indulged in such unlawful acts only because he was removed from his position as the Member of the Managing Committee of Plaintiff No. 1 on account of fraud and embezzlement of funds belonging CS(OS) 867/2023 Page 4 of 6 This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 23/12/2023 at 03:40:49 to the School and the Trust. The content posted by Defendant No. 1 is ex- facie defamatory, indecent, abhorrent, and sexually denigrative. Such baseless and defamatory allegations are maligning the Plaintiffs' standing in the society and causing them mental harassment.

17. The Court has examined the afore-noted submissions and the record, and is satisfied that Plaintiffs have made out a prima facie case in their favour. Balance of convenience also lies in favour of Plaintiffs, and in case the circulation of such defamatory messages/photographs/ content is not restrained, the Plaintiffs are likely to suffer irreparable loss.

18. Accordingly, the following directions are issued:

18.1. Till the next date of hearing, Defendant No. 1 or anyone acting on his behalf, is restrained from uploading, circulating, or posting any content or remarks which are identical or similar to the messages/ photographs/ statuses reproduced at Pages No. 249 to 267 and Pages No. 327 to 332 of the Plaintiffs' documents, on any social media platforms. 18.2. Defendant No. 1 or anyone acting on his behalf shall not create or operate any fake YouTube or other social media accounts in the name of Plaintiff No. 1 to post the content impugned in the present suit. 18.3. During the pendency of the present proceedings, if any content similar to the one restrained by this order resurfaces online, the Plaintiffs shall be at liberty to supply the concerned URLs to Defendants No. 2 to 4, who shall take appropriate steps to takedown and block access thereto, in accordance with law. However, in case the said Defendants come to the conclusion that the content is not identical to the posts which have been injuncted by this order, they shall inform the Plaintiffs of the same, within a period of one week from the date of receipt of the request, whereafter Plaintiffs shall be CS(OS) 867/2023 Page 5 of 6 This is a digitally signed order.

19. Compliance of Order XXXIX Rule 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 be done within three days from today.

20. List on 06th May, 2024.

SANJEEV NARULA, J DECEMBER 22, 2023 nk CS(OS) 867/2023 Page 6 of 6 This is a digitally signed order.

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 23/12/2023 at 03:40:49

Unlock Advanced Research with PRISMAI

Delhi High Court - Orders