EXIDE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY LTD Vs. MITUN GARG

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The plaintiff instituted this suit against the now sole defendant Mitun Garg as well as against one Ms. Sana Khan for (i) recovery, jointly and severally, of compensation in the sum of Rs.2,50,00,000/- for the loss sustained by the plaintiff on account of loss of reputation caused by defamatory statements and malicious falsehoods published by the defendants; (ii) permanent injunction restraining the defendants from publishing, communicating and circulating statements which are defamatory of the plaintiff, alleging that the plaintiff aided and abetted the alleged accused and did not take any action upon the complaints of the defendant No.2 Sana Khan; (iii) mandatory injunction directing the defendants to make a public apology in a newspaper with national circulation; (iv) mandatory injunction directing the defendant No.1 Mitun Garg to remove all such defamatory posts, statements or pictures published on social media; and, (v) for recovery of costs of the suit jointly and severally from the two defendants.

(2.) The suit was entertained and vide ex-parte ad-interim order dated 13th January, 2016, the then defendant No.1 Mitun Garg directed to remove the postings made by him on his Facebook profile and the defendants restrained from, in any manner, similarly defaming the plaintiff. The said order has continued till now.

(3.) The plaintiff filed replications to separate replies claimed to have been received by the plaintiff from the two defendants, annexing thereto the copies of the replies from the defendants received by the plaintiff. However the said replies were not filed in the court. The defendants No.1&2 however subsequently through advocate filed a joint "reply" to the plaint annexing documents therewith and which is on record. On 21st February, 2017, a new counsel for defendant No.2 sought time to file written statement and which was allowed by the learned Joint Registrar vide order dated 21st February, 2017.