Bombay High Court
Piramal Capital And Housing Finance ... vs Unkonwn Defendant No.1 A.K.A. Ravi ... on 1 March, 2023
Author: R.I. Chagla
Bench: R.I. Chagla
11-IAL-1231-23.doc
Sharayu Khot.
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
ORDINARY ORIGINAL CIVIL JURISDICTION
INTERIM APPLICATION (L) NO. 1231 OF 2023
IN
SUIT (L) NO. 1227 OF 2023
Piramal Capital And Housing Finance Limited ...Applicants/
& Anr. Plaintiffs
Versus
Unknown Defendant No. 1 & Ors. ...Defendants
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Mr. Venkatesh Dhond, Senior Counsel, Mr. Simil Purohit, Mr. Viraj
Parikh, Ms. Saloni Shah, Ms. Sayali Diwadkar i/by DSK Legal for the
Plaintiffs.
Mr. Alankar Kirpekar a/w Shekhar Bhagat, Mr. Ayush Tiwari i/by
Shekhar Bhagat and Neelaja Kirpekar for the Defendant No. 7.
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CORAM : R.I. CHAGLA J
DATE : 1 March 2023
ORDER :
1. Mr. Dhond, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Applicants/Plaintiffs has tendered additional Affidavit dated 28th February 2023 in support of the Interim Application which is taken on record.
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2. By this Interim Application, the Applicants have sought injunction against Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 from in any manner publishing, distributing, disseminating or making available to the public any defamatory content/whatsoever against the Applicants and/or repeating the defamatory statements published on Twitter and Instagram at Exh.E to L to the Plaint. Further relief has sought for directing the Defendant Nos. 7, 8, 10 and 11 to take down, remove, block, restrict and disable access on a global basis, to all the defamatory statements referred to in Exh.E to L to the Plaint. Other consequential reliefs has been sought for.
3. Mr. Dhond presses for urgent ad-interim relief in view of the defamatory statements which have been posted on Twitter and which have been annexed to the Plaint. He has submitted that the Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 who are posting the Twitter messages are referred to in the cause title of the Plaint and the Interim Application as unknown as presently only their Twitter/Instagram Id is known to the Applicant/Plaintiff. He has submitted that the Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 have engaged in a systematic smear campaign comprising of 4,036 Tweets as well as Retweets apart from the Facebook messages, Instagram posts and LinkedIn messages to defame the Plaintiffs in 2/11 ::: Uploaded on - 06/03/2023 ::: Downloaded on - 08/06/2023 05:26:37 ::: 11-IAL-1231-23.doc the eyes of the public by making completely false and baseless statements on social media platforms of Twitter (Defendant No. 7), Facebook, Instagram (owned by Defendant No. 8) and LinkedIn (Owned by Defendant No. 11).
4. Mr. Dhond has further submitted that the messages posted on Twitter which have been annexed to the Plaint are in relation to the acquisition by Plaintiff No. 1 of Dewan Housing Finance Limited ("DHFL") under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ("IBC") by way of a Resolution Plan. He has submitted that the Twitter statements are per se defamatory as they attribute to the Plaintiffs the commission of a scam of Rs. 45,00,00,000/- in the taking over of DHFL. He has referred to the further Twitter statement made against the Plaintiffs viz. that they have looted 45,000 Crores by scamming million of retail investors/share holders/Fixed Deposit Holders of DHFL in collusion of other eminent corporate leaders.
5. Mr. Dhond has submitted that the Plaintiffs enjoys a global reputation of being ethical, reliable and trustworthy. Further, the takeover of DHFL is through a Resolution Plan submitted under the provisions of the IBC before the NCLT, Mumbai Bench. The 3/11 ::: Uploaded on - 06/03/2023 ::: Downloaded on - 08/06/2023 05:26:37 ::: 11-IAL-1231-23.doc Resolution Plan of the Plaintiff No. 1 has been accepted by an overwhelming majority of the Committee of Creditors (93.65%) votes. This was after detailed scrutiny by over 70 financial creditors including public sector banks and the Resolution Plan of Plaintiff No. 1 was found to be the most suitable amongst seven Applicants who had submitted the Resolution Plans for revival of DHFL.
6. By an order dated 7th June 2021, the Resolution Plan of Plaintiff No. 1 had been approved by the NCLT. The NCLT order records that against a liquidation value of Rs. 26,550 Crores, the Resolution Plan provides for a total outlay of Rs. 37,250 Crores. Appeals had been filed by the Fixed Deposit-Holders of DHFL before the NCLAT seeking to set aside the NCLT order approving the Resolution Plan. The Appeals were dismissed by the NCLAT on 7th January 2022 and the legality of Plaintiff No. 1's Resolution Plan has been upheld.
7. Mr. Dhond has accordingly, submitted that the defamatory statements have been posted against the Plaintiffs by the Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 without there being any proof of wrongdoing, illegality or corruption involved in Plaintiff No. 1's Resolution Plan 4/11 ::: Uploaded on - 06/03/2023 ::: Downloaded on - 08/06/2023 05:26:37 ::: 11-IAL-1231-23.doc for revival of DHFL being upheld. Accordingly, he has submitted that urgent ad-interim relief be granted restraining the Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 from making such defamatory statements on Twitter handles as well as directing the Defendant No. 7 (Twitter) to block/suspend the Uniform Resource Locators (in short "URLs"), details of which are being submitted by the Applicants/Plaintiffs to Defendant No. 7 as well as to this Court and which URL's having been utilised for posting these defamatory statements.
8. Mr. Kirpekar, the learned Counsel appearing for the Defendant No. 7 (Twitter) has submitted that the aspect of global blocking/Geo-blocking is pending consideration before the Division Bench of the Delhi High Court in Facebook, Inc. Vs. Swami Ramdev & Ors.1. Thus, at present no order can be passed with regard to global blocking/Geo-blocking.
9. Mr. Kirpekar has further submitted that with regard to URLs and the blocking of URLs being sought by the Applicants/Plaintiffs, these can only be done provided orders are passed by this Court. He has referred to the decision of the Delhi 1 FAO(OS) No. 212/2019 5/11 ::: Uploaded on - 06/03/2023 ::: Downloaded on - 08/06/2023 05:26:37 ::: 11-IAL-1231-23.doc High Court in Operation Mercy India Foundation & Ors. Vs. Facebook Inc & Anr.2 where the Delhi High Court vide order dated 15th September 2020 considered a similar relief as sought for by the Applicants/Plaintiffs herein with regard to blocking and/or taking down the URLs from which the impugned posts have been uploaded. The Delhi High Court had also considered the submissions by the learned Senior Counsel for Facebook, Inc. wherein it was submitted that if an order is passed by this Court directing taking down of URLs, Facebook, Inc. will comply with the same. The decision in Facebook, Inc. Vs. Swami Ramdev (supra) has also been relied upon on the aspect of global blocking/Geo-blocking which was under
consideration in that case. Upon considering another decision in Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd. & Anr. Vs. Sobhagya Media Pvt.Ltd. (APN Live) & Ors.3 wherein interim order dated 1st June 2020 was passed by a coordinate bench of the Delhi High Court not ordering a direction for Geo-blocking, the Delhi High Court had not granted such direction. However, the Court granted relief of blocking/ suspension of URLs and passed order restraining the Defendants from uploading defamatory posts. Further, the Facebook, Inc. was directed 2 CS(OS) 262/2020 & IA Nos. 8108-09/2020 3 CS(OS) 135/2020 6/11 ::: Uploaded on - 06/03/2023 ::: Downloaded on - 08/06/2023 05:26:37 ::: 11-IAL-1231-23.doc to furnish to the Court the Basic Subscriber Information ("BSI") concerning the Defendants therein in sealed cover or in electronic form with password protected within a period of one week from the date of the order. He has submitted that a similar order may be passed in the present case provided that this Court is satisfied that the Twitter posts are defamatory per se.
10. Mr. Kirpekar makes a statement that at present the information available with Defendant No. 7 is only with regard to the Basic Subscriber Information.
11. Having considered these submissions, in my prima facie view, a case for ad-interim relief has been made out by Mr. Dhond on behalf of Applicants/Plaintiffs with regard to the Twitter posts being per se defamatory against the Plaintiffs and require to be blocked and/or suspended.
12. Having perused the Twitter posts which at present the ad-interim application is confined to, prima facie the Twitter posts by Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 are per se defamatory in that statements have been made in the posts against the Plaintiffs with 7/11 ::: Uploaded on - 06/03/2023 ::: Downloaded on - 08/06/2023 05:26:37 ::: 11-IAL-1231-23.doc regard to scamming millions of retail investors by looting 45,000 Crores as well as the Plaintiffs having conspired to rob the hard- earned money of lakhs of shareholders and Fixed Deposit Holders of DHFL in collusion with other eminent corporate leaders. These statements are belied from the facts on record viz. that the Plaintiff No. 1 had submitted the Resolution Plain for revival of DHFL under the IBC before the NCLT, Mumbai Bench. The Resolution Plan was accepted by an overwhelming majority of the Committee of Creditors (93.65%) votes in favour of Plaintiff No. 1's Resolution plan. Further, the Resolution Plan was scrutinized by over 70 financial creditors including public sector banks and was found to be the most suitable out of the seven applications. The Resolution Plan of Plaintiff No. 1 was approved by the NCLT on 7th June 2021 and NCLT order records that against a liquidation value of Rs. 26,550 Crores, the Resolution Plan provides for a total outlay of Rs. 37,250 Crores. The Appeals filed by the Fixed Deposit-Holders of DHFL in the NCLT has been dismissed by the NCLAT on 7th January 2022.
13. Having considered the facts on record, prima facie it thus, appears that the Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 have engaged in a systematic smear campaign comprising of more than 4,036 8/11 ::: Uploaded on - 06/03/2023 ::: Downloaded on - 08/06/2023 05:26:37 ::: 11-IAL-1231-23.doc publications impugning the public image of the Plaintiffs by claiming the takeover of DHFL to be fraudulent, corrupt, a scam to rob Shareholders and Fixed Deposit Holders without any proof and/or material in support thereof and/or any finding to that effect.
14. Accordingly, till further orders, ad-interim relief is granted as under :-
(i) Uniform Resource Locators (in short "URLs") from which impugned posts have been uploaded by the Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 shall stand blocked/suspended.
The details of the URLs are appended to this order.
(ii) Defendant No. 7 will ensure that the aforementioned URLs remain blocked/suspended till further orders of this Court and the exercise will be completed within a period of one week from the date of uploading of this order.
(iii) Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 are injuncted from uploading defamatory posts which are of like nature to the 9/11 ::: Uploaded on - 06/03/2023 ::: Downloaded on - 08/06/2023 05:26:37 ::: 11-IAL-1231-23.doc defamatory posts annexed at Exh.E to L to the Plaint and Exh.A to F of the additional Affidavit.
(iv) Defendant No. 7 will furnish to this Court the Basic Subscriber Information ("BSI") concerning Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 in a sealed cover within a period of one week from the date of uploading of this order.
(v) Upon the Defendant No. 7 furnishing the BSI concerning Defendant Nos. 1 to 6, the same shall be made available to the Applicants/Plaintiffs by the Registry within one week therefrom.
(vi) The Applicants/Plaintiffs upon receiving the BSI, shall carry out suitable amendment to the Plaint and the Interim Application within a period two weeks therefrom and shall serve the amended Plaint and amended Interim Application on Defendant Nos. 1 to 6 as well as other Defendants, simultaneously upon carrying out the amendment.
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(vii) Upon the amended Plaint and amended Interim Application being served upon the Defendants, the Defendants shall file their Affidavit in Reply within two weeks therefrom.
(viii) It is made clear that the issue of global blocking/Geo-
blocking will be considered on the next date.
15. Interim Application shall be listed on 6th April 2023 under the caption for further ad-interim reliefs.
[R.I. CHAGLA J.] 11/11 ::: Uploaded on - 06/03/2023 ::: Downloaded on - 08/06/2023 05:26:37 :::