‘Skulduggery’, ‘backdoor operator’ not “fair comment”; Delhi HC grants interim relief to Reliance Jio against COAI

The Delhi High Court today restrained the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and its Director General Rajan S Mathews from making defamatory and disparaging statements against cellular operator, Reliance Jio..A single judge Bench of Justice Yogesh Khanna allowed interim relief in a defamation suit filed by Reliance Jio which had entered the telecommunication market by deploying the Voice over LTE (VoLTE) technology..Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Dayan Krishnan appeared for Reliance Jio and were instructed by advocates KR Sasiprabhu & Co. and Ritin Rai..Advocates Syed Jafer Alam and Shivani Khandekar represented COAI and Rajan Mathews..The suit stems from various press statements and articles by COAI. Three specific instances were referred to by Reliance Jio in this regard..The first is a press release by COAI dated September 25, 2016 in which it was stated that Reliance Jio entered the sector as a “backdoor operator” and also stated that “despite all this skulduggery, COAI welcomed Reliance Jio into the association.”.Another instance referred to by Jio was an article by the defendants in Economic Times dated February 16, 2018 in which it was stated that the “problem of call drops was greater in data based networks such as VoLTE than in 2G and 3G technology services.”.The third reference was to a press statement dated February 20, 2018 in which it was stated, “For some reason these orders seem to be strengthening the ambitions of one particular operator with deep pockets and monopolistic designs at the expense of other operators”..It was alleged by the Jio that the defendants sought to injure its reputation by creating the impression in the minds of existing and prospective customers that its services are deficient and that it was a “monopolistic entity” which – in collusion with TRAI – was attempting to modify the statutory regulations..It was submitted by Jio that it had received a number of letters and communications from the shareholders of its parent company and the general public with regard to the above allegations..Each of the above allegations were published in print and online media having readership in tens of millions, Jio submitted..The court issued notice to COAI and Rajan Mathews..It also noted that words like ‘backdoor operator’, ‘skulduggery’, ‘deep pockets and monopolistic designs’ etc. do not come within the purview of fair comment and hence a prima facie case for interim relief was made out..It therefore, directed the defendants to refrain from making any “disparaging or defamatory statements like the ‘words’ above”..The matter is now listed for hearing on August 24.