Dhruv Rathee vs Dabur: Calcutta HC Criticizes Dabur For Insistence On Directions To Remove All Videos

The Calcutta High Court has recently voiced its displeasure with Dabur India for its insistence on passing orders to remove all URLs of a video made by content creator Dhruv Rathee about the company’s product, Real fruit juice.

On March 24, the Court ordered YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter to block public access to the said video, which showed how Real fruit juice impacts the health of consumers, particularly children.

Rathee’s counsel, Nakul Gandhi, told the bench virtually that his client had initially made the video ‘private,’ and had gone a step ahead from what the Court had directed.

“My client had made the video private. This means that if any user downloads the URL and posts the corresponding video to their channel, my client will be notified. Then he can simply delete that video. However, if he downloads the original video, he will not receive any notifications about the video being uploaded from other sites. But now, we have complied with the court’s order and have deleted the video,” Gandhi highlighted.

Dabur’s counsel Debnath Ghosh objected to the same and asked Justice Ravi Krishan Kapur to issue orders to remove several such videos, uploaded from other channels as well. He claimed that the Rathee was original creator of the video.

The Bench, however, declined to hear the request.

“You (Dabur) demonstrate that there was some deception on his (Rathee’s) part.” We will pass orders if you can demonstrate that he has uploaded all of those videos (against Rathee). Otherwise, I cannot permit a multinational corporation to continue a case like this against an individual,” the judge stated.

The judge said in response to Ghosh’s request for orders, “Mr Ghosh, please don’t try this with me. You cannot begin a Mahabharat in this manner. Let him file an affidavit.”

As a result, the Court granted Rathee four weeks to file his affidavit and adjourned the hearing until May 8.