Bombay High Court orders Sprouts News to take down articles defaming Godrej Properties

The Bombay High Court on Friday passed an interim order directing Sprouts News to take down two online articles that allegedly defamed Godrej Properties Ltd. [Godrej Properties Ltd v Sprouts News and Anr]..Justice RI Chagla also restrained the news outlet from publishing or republishing any similar content."A case has been made for the plaintiff seeking urgent exparte ad-interim relief. Giving of notice to the defendants would result in the defendants publishing / further publishing the material which in my prima facie view is per se defamatory and/ or publishing further similar defamatory material causing severe damage and loss to the reputation of the plaintiff," the Court said.According to Godrej Properties, Sprouts News published two defamatory articles on August 13 and August 18. It argued that these articles made false and serious allegations about the company's real estate project in Haryana.In the first article titled Godrej’s Rs.5,000 Crore plus project under fire over ‘toothless’ HRERA, Sprouts News claimed that Godrej had failed to obtain a mandatory fire NOC. The company said this claim was based on a repealed law - the Haryana Fire and Emergency Services Act, 2009..The second article featured an image of Godrej Properties’ official logo with the word 'Fraud' placed on it. According to the company, this was “reckless and malicious” and “grossly injurious” to its brand. Godrej argued that these statements amounted to criminal insinuation and could harm its reputation with customers and investors.Godrej's counsel also told the court that if notice was given to Sprouts News before the hearing, the entire object and purpose of seeking urgent reliefs would be lost.The Court agreed with these submissions.Referring to the article dated August 18, the Court added, “In particular the impugned Article dated 18th August, 2025 where the Defendants has placed the term ‘Fraud” upon the Plaintiff’s logo and registered trademark and brand insignia of namely Godrej Properties Ltd., thereby conveying to the public a reckless and malicious insinuation of criminal conduct.”.Hence, it passed an injunction order restraining Sprouts News from directly or indirectly making or publishing any defamatory material.It also directed Sprouts News to immediately takedown the defamatory material from its website and social media accounts.Sprouts News was granted liberty to apply for modification or cancellation of the order by giving 48 hours’ notice to Godrej’s lawyers.The matter will be heard again on September 8..Senior Advocates Virag Tulzapurkar and Sharan Jagtiani with advocates Mayur Khandeparkar, Karan Bhide, Nitesh Ranavat and Disha Shetty instructed by Wadia Ghandy and Co appeared for Godrej Properties..[Read Order]