The balance between the right to privacy and freedom of expression must be upheld, emphasizing that claims of defamation require full trial for verification.

JUDGMENT :

H.P. SANDESH, J.

1. Heard the learned counsel for the appellant/plaintiff and learned Senior counsels for respondent No. 1 and caveator-respondent No. 2/defendant Nos. 1 and 2.

2. The plaintiff while filing a suit before the Trial Court sought direction to the defendant Nos. 1 and 2 to pay the damages of Rs. 1,00,00,000/- along with interest at the rate of 24% per annum to the plaintiff for having published the defamatory statement against the plaintiff in a book named ‘Stores I must tell: The Emotional Life of an Actor’ by Kabir Bedi and also to retrain the defendants, their agents, executors, distributors, websites, e-business portals or other like agents and others from selling the book and direct the defendant Nos. 1 and 2 to forthwith remove the defamatory content published by them from the book and in the event failing to repay the sums due to the plaintiff, to direct the attachment and sale of shares belonging to the defendant No. 1 in the defendant No. 2-company and grant such other relief as deems fit in the circumstances of the case.

3. The main contention urged in the plaint by the plaintiff is that the plaintiff was engaged in the business of T-Machinery (in the field of mining technology). He has two siblings one of which is the defendant No. 1 and he is currently residing in Bengaluru. The defendant No. 1 is an Indian Film Actor, whose career has spanned three continents covering India, the United States of America and Italy among other European countries in three media being film, television and theatre. The defendant No. 1 is an eminent film personality throughout the country as well as abroad. The defendant No. 2 is a publishing business house in India acquired by Amazon which was earlier a Trent Limited subsidiary and is one of the leading publishing houses in India. Westland Publications Private Limited was incorporated in the year 2016 and is registered at Registrar of Companies, Chennai.

4. The defendant No. 1 authored a book named ‘Stories I must Tell: The Emotional Life of an Actor’ by Kabir Bedi ISBN:9789390679409 (“the book”). The copyright of the book belongs to the defendant No. 1. The above mentioned book has been launched and published by the defendant No. 2 on 19.04.2021 and is very popular and it is available to public in India and abroad for reading/purchase online. It is stated that plaintiff recently learnt from an acquaintance that the said book has certain statements made by the defendant No. 1 inter-alia making allegations, innuendos against him, his character, his reputation and wanted a clarification to know the truth. The plaintiff was shocked by the same and had the opportunity to peruse the book. In the said book, some of what has been stated by the defendant No. 1 is extracted hereunder:

“(7.1) “I’ve been betrayed the most by people who I trusted the most”

(7.2) “The most painful of all, my brother Ranga”

(7.3) “An unexpected official letter in the post led to my discovering what had happened”

(7.4) “Eventually, I had to file a case of fraud against him in Nelamangala Court near Bengaluru in 2016”

(7.5) “It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do”

(7.6) “I idolised him”

(7.7) “But that’s a story for another time”

(7.8) “Trust is a perishable commodity, its gold only if it lasts”

It is contended that the person referred to as “Ranga” in the above said book is the plaintiff, who is the elder brother of the defendant