Malabar Gold and Diamonds has got relief from Bombay HC after several social media posts labelled the brand as ‘Pakistan sympathiser’ for hiring a Pakistani-origin Instagrammer. In an ad-interim order, the Bombay High Court has directed the deletion of defamatory social media posts against Malabar Gold and Diamonds. The social media posts allegedly called the jewellery brand a “sympathiser of Pakistan”. A bench of Justice Sandeep Marne in its order said that a case was made out for the grant of an ad-interim injunction and ordered the posts to be deleted. Malabar Gold had 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.The court said that 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.

Pakistani Instagram influencer ‘linked’ to Malabar Gold and Diamonds

Malabar Gold and Diamonds Ltd had moved HC against several posts/materials and stories uploaded on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Google reportedly by random persons connecting the company to Pakistan. As per the company’s plea, the posts termed Malabar Gold as a sympathiser of Pakistan and were causing damage to their sales, especially now during the festive season.In its defence, Malabar Gold and Diamonds Limited said that it had plans to open up a showroom in Birmingham, United Kingdom. To promote the same, it hired JAB Studios to arrange for local social media influencers to promote the brand. One of the influencers provided by the JAB Studios was Alishba Khalid, a Pakistani Instagram influencer, who is a resident of the UK. However, it was later revealed that Khalid had publicly criticised India and its “Operation Sindoor”, a surgical strike against Pakistan after the tragic attack in Pahalgaon.Malabar Gold, in its plea, said that 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.

What Bombay HC said in its order

Agreeing with Malabar Gold’s submissions, Justice Marne held that a case is made out for grant of ad-interim injunction in favour of the Plaintiff for pulling down the posts, list of which alongwith URL was provided. “Similarly, the Defendant Nos.1 to 7 on whose platforms defamatory material is being published against the Plaintiff, deserves to be restrained from permitting publication of any further defamatory material against the Plaintiff qua the influencer arrangement made by it with Ms. Alishba Khalid. Therefore, Defendant Nos.1 to 7 shall pull down and delete all the posts/materials/stories details of which are reflected in the plaint,” the judge ordered. The defendants to the suit are Meta Platform (Facebook, WhatsApp & Instagram), X (erstwhile Twitter), Google (YouTube) and some news agencies.