Delhi High Court: In a joint application under Order 23 Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 filed on behalf of the plaintiff and Defendant 2 seeking a consent decree based on the terms of the Joint Settlement Agreement dated 8-4-2025, Saurabh Banerjee, J.*, perused the terms of the Agreement and found them to be lawful. Accordingly, the Court stated that the present suit was decreed in terms of the Joint Settlement Agreement arrived between the plaintiff and Defendant 2.
In the present case, Defendant 3 was the owner of the Instagram handle “@hustlewithhritik”, and was responsible for uploading the impugned reel titled “Never Use Dettol in your Skin” featuring the offending portion of the impugned podcast. As such it was observed by the Court vide order dated 8-4-2025 that, Defendant 3 vide e-mail dated 6-4-2025, had categorically stated that “Delete kar di wo video okay (sic)” or “That video has been deleted, okay”.
The Court, vide order dated 8-4-2025, restrained Defendant 3 from re-uploading the impugned reel or any other reel/ video containing the offending portion of the impugned podcast on his Instagram handle and/ or any social media/ other platform available on the internet till the next date of hearing.
Further, as per joint draft terms of settlement, vide order dated 8-4-2025, the Court directed all Meta Platforms, Inc. and YouTube LLC, to remove any and all reels/ shorts/ videos featuring the offending portion of the impugned podcast forthwith.
In the present case, the plaintiff and Defendant 2 confirmed the terms of Joint Settlement Agreement dated 8-4-2025. The Court perused the terms of the Agreement and found them to be lawful. Accordingly, the Court stated that the present suit was decreed in terms of the Joint Settlement Agreement dated 8-4-2025 arrived between the plaintiff and Defendant 2. The plaintiff and the Defendant 2 should remain bound by the terms of Joint Settlement Agreement dated 8-4-2025. The Court further stated that the Joint Settlement Agreement should form a part of the decree sheet.
The matter would next be listed on 10-7-2025.
[Reckitt Benckiser India (P) Ltd. v. Manjot Marwah, CS(COMM) 325 of 2025, decided on 6-5-2025]
*Order by Justice Saurabh Banerjee
Advocates who appeared in this case :
For the Plaintiff: Nancy Roy and Nida, Advocates.
For the Defendants: Satvik Varma, Senior Advocate with Nakul Gandhi, Mujeeb, Tanish Gupta and Shantanu, Advocates; Varun Pathak, Amee Rana, Dhruv Bhatnagar and Ananya Gogoi, Advocates; Vihan Dang, Ujjawal Bhargava, Aditya Mathur and Anuparna Chatterjee, Advocates.