Delhi High Court - Orders
Living Media India Limited & Anr vs Www.News-Aajtak.Co.In & Ors on 7 December, 2022
Author: Sanjeev Narula
Bench: Sanjeev Narula
$~27
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+ CS(COMM) 395/2020 I.A. 8516/2020
LIVING MEDIA INDIA LIMITED & ANR. ..... Plaintiffs
Through: Mr. Rahul Beruar, Mr. Avinash K.
Singh and Ms. Jyotsana Sinha,
Advocates.
versus
WWW.NEWS-AAJTAK.CO.IN & ORS. ..... Defendants
Through: Ms. Shweta Sahu and Mr. Brijesh
Ujjainwal, Advocates for D-3.
Mr. Aaditya Vijay Kumar, Ms. Liza
Baruah, Ms. Shreya Shree Singh and
Mr. Abhinandan Jain, Advocates for
D-26.
Mr. Sanyam Jain and Ms. Mohini,
Advocates for Contemnor No. 2 along
with Contemnor No. 2 in person.
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SANJEEV NARULA
ORDER
% 07.12.2022 I.A. 3065/2021 (under Order XXXIX Rule 2A and Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 r/w Section 12 of the Contempt Act, 1971)
1. Plaintiff alleges that after grant of injunction, Defendants have changed the domain name of infringing website from <www.aajtaknewsdaily.com> to <www.aajtaknewsdaily.in>. Accordingly, present application is filed against Contemnor No. 1 [www.aajtaknewsdaily.com] and Contemnor No. 2 [Mr. Anil Kumar Middha], who is stated to be Editor of Contemnor No. 1 website.
2. Counsel for Plaintiff states that name of the registrant of Contemnor Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SAPNA SETHI Signing Date:12.12.2022 20:49:51 No. 1 website is not available with him.
3. Contemnor No. 2 is present in person, and states that he is not the registrant of the domain name of Contemnor No. 1. It is registered and managed by one Mr. Gurdyal Soni Gulshan, who is the owner of news media outlets namely <www.aajtaknewsdaily.com>, <www.aajtaknewsdaily.in> and <humanrightlive.com>. He was working on commission basis, is no longer in the management of the above websites, and has left the services of Mr. Gurdyal Soni Gulshan. He further undertakes that he will not be uploading any content on the website <www.aajtaknewsdaily.in>.
4. As regards Defendant No. 9 [www.aajtaklive.in], counsel for Plaintiff states that despite orders of this Court, the said website is still active. It has transpired that the said website was earlier registered with the domain registrar Defendant No. 3 [GoDaddy.com, LLC], and is now registered with Defendant No. 16 [Hosting Concepts B.V. doing business as Openprovider].
5. A "Chart representing status of Defendants' infringing platforms"
dated 07th December 2022 has been prepared by the Counsel for Plaintiff, handed over across the board, and taken on record. It has also been shared with the counsel for Defendant No. 26 [Facebook Inc. now known as Meta]. Relying on the chart, Counsel for the Plaintiff has raised grievance regarding operation of certain webpages (Facebook profiles) on the social media platform of Defendant No. 26, details whereof are contained in the chart, that still remain active despite orders of the court.
6. Considering the above submissions, following directions are passed:
a) Contemnor No. 2 is discharged from the contempt proceedings.
b) In light of the information given by him, Mr. Gurdyal Soni Gulshan is Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SAPNA SETHI Signing Date:12.12.2022 20:49:51 impleaded as Contemnor No. 3. Let amended memo of parties be filed within two weeks from today.
c) Issue notice to Mr. Gurdyal Soni Gulshan, at the address mentioned in memo of parties at serial no. 37, by all permissible modes including dasti, upon filing process fee, returnable on the next date of hearing.
d) In light of the directions issued in the order dated 06th September, 2021, Defendant No. 16 is directed to suspend domain name of Defendant No. 9 forthwith.
e) Defendant No. 26 is directed to pull down profiles at serial no. 3 <https://www.facebook.com/NEWSAAJTAKLIVENTW/?ref=page_inte rnal> and serial no. 16 <http://www.facebook.com/livesamachaar/?ref=page_internal>, <https://www.facebook.com/livesamachaar/photos/pb.10006449432022
5.-2207520000./913114392127210/?type=3>, <https://www.facebook.com/livesamachaar/photos/pb.10006449432022
5.-2207520000./922041514567831/?type=3>, <https://www.facebook.com/livesamachaar/photos/pb.10006449432022
5.-2207520000./917101765061806/?type=3> of the chart.
f) Further, if Defendant No. 11 [www.eaajtak.com] is still registered with Defendant No. 3, it shall also suspend the said domain name forthwith.
7. List for further directions on 31st January, 2023.
SANJEEV NARULA, J DECEMBER 7, 2022 d.negi [Corrected and released on 12th December 2022] Signature Not Verified Digitally Signed By:SAPNA SETHI Signing Date:12.12.2022 20:49:51