Delhi High Court: In a suit filed for relief of permanent injunction restraining the Defendant, an ex-employee of Plaintiff 2 (ICICI Bank), from making and publishing defamatory statements against ICICI Bank, the Single Judge Bench of Amit Bansal, J, held that publication of abusive statements and videos after discharge of service amounted to defamation. The Court further restrained the Defendant from publishing, distributing or sharing any other content disparaging ICICI Bank till the next hearing.
The defendant in the instant case was a Relationship Manager engaged with ICICI Bank. Upon discharge from service, he posted over 100 videos containing abusive and defamatory statements against ICICI Bank on various social media platforms. ICICI Bank had initiated conciliation proceedings under the provisions of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 during which the defendant again made several abusive and defamatory remarks against the employees of ICICI Bank.
Considering the evidence put forth by ICICI Bank, the Court held that a prima facie case was made out in favour of the Bank. The Court noted that ICICI Bank was a reputed Bank and the statements disparaging the Bank and its employees was intended to damage the reputation of the Bank.
The Court further held that the balance of convenience was against the Defendant and irreparable harm and injury would be caused to ICICI Bank if the Defendant was allowed to continue making such statements.
Accordingly, the Defendant was restrained from making, addressing, publishing, distributing, posting, tweeting, sharing, circulating, uploading or otherwise disseminating any abusive, derogatory, or disparaging videos, posts or other content against ICICI Bank and/or disseminating any audio and/or video recordings of any quasi-judicial or judicial proceedings involving either of the plaintiffs.
[Kapil Dev Singh v. Dharmendra Gupta, CS(COMM) No. 539 of 2025, decided on 14-8-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
For the Plaintiff: Samudra Sarangi, Riya Kalra, Paritosh Tengshe, Panchi Agarwal, Advocates
