The Bombay High Court denied urgent relief to restrict specific persons in 100 crore defamation lawsuit filed by the Covishield vaccine manufacturer Serum Institute of India and its CEO Adar Poonawalla

The court refused to issue a restraining order until then, stating that the case was complex and that it did not have time to hear it in detail for interim reliefs. However, SII was given the freedom to approach the vacation court for the same relief by Justice N. J. Jamadar. 

In the lawsuit, SII alleged that the defendants Yohan Tengra and Ambar Koiri had disparaged Poonawalla regarding the Covishield vaccine in their posts, articles, and videos.

The accused have been asked to unconditionally apologise to SII and pay damages of Rs 100 crore. Additionally, it has asked a court to issue an injunction against social media sites like YouTube and Twitter to force them to remove the defamatory posts and prevent similar ones from being published against SII in the future. 

Attorney Chetan Kapadia asked for limited remedy at the hearing to stop the defendants from publishing more libellous material.

"The plaintiff is the largest manufacturer. To impute an allegation that someone is a criminal in private communication or in public is not permissible," subsequently he sought to restrain them in the interim. According to the YouTube attorney who was present, the petition would need to be changed to include the US company of YouTube as a party.

"The court is interested in hearing and deciding matters, the court is not interested in all this,' Justice NJ Jamadar made this statement in reference to the brief argument that took place during the hearing. 

The defendants were then asked to be confined while Kapadia argued for limited reliefs. The bench refused to issue any orders of injunction without first hearing from the parties, stating that it did not have time to do so. Now, the hearing will take place on January 3, 2023.

Case Title – Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd. and Anr. v. Yohan Tengra and Ors.
Case no. – SL/33253/2022