Bombay High Court orders deletion of online posts calling Malabar Gold company 'Pakistan sympathiser'

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has ordered the deletion of social media posts trolling jewellery brand Malabar Gold and Diamonds Ltd for appointing a Pakistani-origin, London-based influencer to endorse their brand in the UK.

The posts allegedly called the jewellery brand a "sympathiser of Pakistan".

A bench of Justice Sandeep Marne in its order passed on Monday said a case was made out for the grant of an ad-interim injunction and ordered the posts to be deleted.

The court said social media platforms shall also not permit the publishing of any further defamatory material against the company pertaining to the appointment of the influencer to promote its products and business.

Malabar Gold and Diamonds Ltd had moved HC against several posts/ materials and stories uploaded on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Google by random persons connecting the company to Pakistan.

As per the plea, the posts termed Malabar Gold as a sympathiser of Pakistan and were causing damage to their sales, especially now during the festive season.

The brand submitted to HC a list of 442 URLs containing such defamatory posts and sought an injunction against further posts and also the deletion of the same.

As per the petition, the brand had plans to set up a new showroom in Birmingham in the United Kingdom (UK) and to promote the same, it had engaged JAB Studios to secure influencers.

One of the influencers provided by the JAB Studios was Alishba Khalid, a Pakistani Instagram influencer, who is a resident of the UK.

Khalid had publicly condemned India's Operation Sindoor against Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack earlier this year.

Malabar Gold, in its plea, said Khalid was engaged to promote its branch much before the Pahalgam attack (in April). The company was not aware that she was originally from Pakistan, and her services had been discontinued, it said.

The company claimed that mere utilisation of the services of a UK-based social media influencer at some point cannot be a reason for spreading defamatory content.