Asian News International (ANI) has moved the Delhi High Court with a defamation suit against YouTuber Mohak Mangal, claiming that the allegations against the news agency made by him in a recent video are false and defamatory..The suit filed through Advocate Akshit Mago is likely to be heard tomorrow (May 29). It also arrays comedian Kunal Kamra and AltNews co-founder Mohammed Zubair as defendants for sharing the video on their X handles..In the video published on May 25, Mangal accuses ANI of extortion and blackmail after it initiated copyright strikes on YouTube against him for using short clips in his videos. Mangal claimed that an ANI representative reached out to him and asked him to pay over ₹40 lakh to clear the copyright strikes against his channel.ANI alleges that the video is an attempt to discredit and insult ANI and its services that are provided under its registered trademarks. The plea states that Mangal openly admitted to using the ANI’s original copyrighted videos to earn revenue. Despite this, he published a video filled with defamatory and damaging statements, it said..ANI claims that the video deliberately spreads falsehoods to harm its reputation, discourages use of its services and misuses its registered trademarks with defamatory commentary.On Kamra, Zubair and others who have shared Mangal's video on their social media accounts, the suit states,"In addition to widely sharing the Impugned Video, these Defendants have independently published further false, baseless, and malicious statements targeting the Plaintiff and its founders. These statements are devoid of any factual or legal foundation and are clearly intended to malign the Plaintiff's reputation and lower its estimation in the eyes of the public.".In view of the above, ANI seeks the following relief:- A permanent and mandatory injunction against Mangal, including directions to take down the video, stop using its trademarks and refrain from publishing or circulating any further false, misleading or defamatory content against ANI and its trademarks.- Similar restraining orders against Kamra, Zubair, and others, preventing them from making or sharing defamatory and false statements about ANI.
