New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered the removal of videos and content published by YouTuber Shyam Meera Singh against spiritual guru Sadhguru’s Isha Foundation from online platforms.
Justice Subramonium Prasad stated that the continuous circulation of the YouTube video, which had a "clickbait" title, was likely to harm the reputation of the foundation. The court restrained Singh from further publishing his allegations.
In an interim order on Isha Foundation’s lawsuit, the judge directed X (formerly Twitter), Meta, and Google to remove the alleged defamatory content against the foundation of Jagadish "Jaggi" Vasudev, also known as Sadhguru. The court prima facie observed that Singh based the video on "entirely unverified material" and restrained the public from sharing or uploading it on social media platforms until the next hearing in May.
The court noted that Singh had promoted the video through tweets and posts before uploading it. "So far, the video has garnered over 9 lakh views and more than 13,500 comments. The title of the video, ‘Sadhguru EXPOSED: What’s happening in Jaggi Vasudev’s Ashram?’, is a clickbait, and this court is of the prima facie opinion that the title was deliberately given to attract attention," the order stated. The court restrained Singh from publishing further and ordered social media platforms to take down the defamatory video and all related content.
Isha Foundation’s counsel argued that the video, uploaded on February 24, contained "false, reckless, baseless, and per se defamatory" allegations against the trust, including unsubstantiated claims of sexual abuse against children. The counsel added that Singh claimed his video was based on certain emails sent by individuals associated with the foundation, but their authenticity was not verified.
"The emails were fabricated and false. The reputation built over decades cannot be dismantled like this," the counsel said. The court emphasized that reputation is an integral part of an individual’s dignity and stressed the need to balance freedom of speech and expression with the right to reputation.
"If the video is not taken down immediately, the complainant/trust will suffer a loss of reputation that cannot be compensated monetarily," the court added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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