Bombay High Court: In an interim application filed by Plaintiff- Godrej Properties (Godrej) against the defendant- Sprouts News, in a defamation case where article calling Godrej as “Fraud” was published by them, the Single Judge Bench of R.I. Chagla, J., granted an ex-parte interim injunction to Godrej. The Court held that the articles conveyed malicious insinuation of criminal conduct by Godrej which hampered its commercial reputation. Thus, Godrej had made a strong prima facie case therefore, the Sprouts News was directed to take down both the defamatory articles from all social media platforms and its website and also restrained them from further publication of those defamatory articles.
Background
Godrej alleged that Sprouts News had published the defamatory articles on 13-8-2025 and 18-8-2025 which were materially false, defamatory to the Godrej’s business and commercial reputation. In the said defamatory material, Sprouts News had given an impression to the buyers in the subject project that there is no mandatory fire NOC obtained by Godrej by referring to the repealed Haryana Fire and Emergency Services Act, 2009.
One of the defamatory article was titled as “Godrej’s Rs.5,000 Crore plus project under fire over by ‘toothless’ HRERA” while another article placed the word “Fraud” before Godrej’s logo and registered Trademark. Godrej had been accused of several criminal offences in the said defamatory and malicious articles.
Aggrieved by the same Godrej moved an interim application for removal and further publication of the said defamatory content.
Analysis, Law and Decision
The Court observed that article published by Sprouts News particularly on 18-8-2025 where the word “Fraud” was placed before Godrej’s logo conveyed malicious insinuation of criminal conduct by Godrej, about its real estate project in Haryana.
The Court opined that Godrej had made a strong prima facie case for restraining the defendants from publishing articles containing statements which are false, reckless, malicious and grossly injurious and damaging to the Godrej’s business and commercial reputation.
Accordingly, the Court granted ex-parte ad-interim relief to Godrej and held that the articles harmed the commercial reputation of Godrej and conveyed malicious insinuation of criminal conduct. Therefore, the Court directed Sprouts News to take down the defamatory articles from all social media and online platforms and restrained them from further publication of those articles.
[Godrej Properties Ltd. v. Sprouts News, 2025 SCC OnLine Bom 2982, decided on: 22-8-2025]
Advocates who appeared in this case:
Advocate for the Applicant- Virag Tulzapurkar, Sharan Jagtiani, Senior Advocate; Mayur Khandeparkar, Karan Bhide, Nitesh Ranavat Disha Shetty i/b. Wadia Ghandy and Co., Advocates
