Bombay High Court junks Lodha petition to gag scribe's videos

In what comes as a big blow to Lodha Developers, the Bombay High Court rejected their plea to restrain three persons, including a journalist, from posting online 'defamatory' content and videos about one of its high-rise project at Wadala, or even direct YouTube to pull down their posts.

Justice Gautam Patel refused to gag the five statements made by journalist Krishnaraj Rao, where he had demonstrated some major faults — including sub-standard constuction using gypsum — in the project named 'Dioro' at New Cuffe Parade.

The court observed, "Lodha strains to give the impression that it was blind-sided, but it was not. Rao acted as any print journalist would have. He gave Lodha an opportunity to respond and Lodha did nothing. In this factual scenario, I do not see how Lodha can be heard to say it has any equity to a broad order gagging Rao."