A court in Haryana recently restrained YouTubers and motivational speakers Vivek Bindra and Sandeep Maheshwari from posting any defamatory content against each other on social media or offline platforms [M/s Bada Business Private Limited & Anr v Sandeep Maheshwari & Anr].Faridabad Civil Judge (Junior Division) Gagandeep Goyal passed the interim order on February 5, partly allowing the plea filed by Vivek Bindra and his company, Bada Business.Bindra approached the court to restrain Maheshwari from posting any defamatory content against him.The Court said that while Bindra failed to prove strong prima facie case warranting interim mandatory injunction against Maheshwari, he does have a case to the extent that any defamatory remarks, imputation or accusation can cause huge loss to his business and reputation.“Both the plaintiff (Bindra) and defendant No.1 (Maheshwari) are renowned youtubers. Any of their videos or posts on the social media certainly induces great number of youth following them. Therefore, to rest the controversy, both the plaintiff and defendant No.1 are restrained from uploading any defamatory/ disparaging video or posts over social media or any other online and off line mode against each other. Accordingly, stay application stands partly allowed,” the Court ordered.However, the Court also held that Bindra failed to prove that Maheshwari’s video (where he raised questions on Bindra’s business model) was uploaded with malice.“He (Bindra) has not even denied the business model/schemes discussed in the video and has not disclosed his actual business models/schemes in his plaint. He was supposed to specify any imputation or allegations in the video which is defamatory and false. However, plaintiff failed to point out the same. At this stage, there is nothing on record which may suggest that impugned Video dated 11.12.2023 contains any false and defamatory contents against the plaintiff.”
Maheshwari and Bindra have been engaged in a war of words since December 11, 2023, when the former released a video titled ‘Big Scam Exposed’. While the video did not name Bindra, social media users made the connection.The allegation was that Bindra was running a scam and fooling young people by providing a 10-day MBA course.Within few days, Maheshwari’s video garnered millions of views. Soon after this, Maheshwari claimed that he was being pressured to take down the video and that goons were sent to his house as well.Bindra, however, denied any wrongdoing and released a video on his YouTube channel answering Maheshwari’s allegations.Advocates Vineet M Bajaj, Yash Singhal, Aditya Vardhan and Karan Bansal appeared for Vivek Bindra.Sandeep Maheshwari was represented by advocates Mumtaz Bhalla and Atul Mangla.
TAGS: Vivek Bindra Sandeep Maheshwari Defamatory content Interim order Haryana Court
