A Mumbai court has restrained YouTuber Ajay Nagar, popularly known as CarryMinati, talent manager Deepak Char and others from publishing or circulating any defamatory material against filmmaker Karan Johar on social media platforms. This order was passed on February 9 by Principal Sessions Judge PG Bhosle in the case of Karan Johar vs Ajay Nagar and others. The petition was filed by Johar through Apoorva Mehta, CEO of Dharma Productions, the banner owned by the filmmaker.
Mumbai Court stops CarryMinati from posting defamatory content against Karan Johar
Allegations of defamatory and libelous material
In his petition, Johar claimed that social media influencers have made derogatory statements about him in videos uploaded on YouTube. “The statements are so vulgar and derogatory that they should be immediately removed,” Johar’s petition said. Nagar’s lawyer argued before the court that the videos in question had already been removed and Johar had no viable reason to approach the court.
However, Johar countered this argument, saying that although the original videos were removed, they had already been viewed by “millions of people”. “Unknown persons are making a reel of it and re-circulating it on social media,” argued Johar.
Court granted interim injunction
After hearing the arguments, the court said that prima facie it appeared that Nagar and Char made derogatory statements against Johar and used abusive language.
“These videos need to be removed immediately. There should be an injunction against all those circulating and re-circulating these videos on social media platforms. This is a fit case to pass interim injunction orders against the respondents,” the court said.
Accordingly, the court passed an order temporarily restraining the content creators and others – including the unnamed party referred to as John Doe – from posting or circulating any further defamatory material against Johar, pending the final hearing on the filmmaker’s application for interim relief.
Additionally, the court directed the Meta platform to remove the video links flagged by Johar in the lawsuit. The case will now be heard further as the court considers Johar’s plea for interim relief.
