Delhi court bans news reports linking Manoj Sandesara, family to Sterling Biotech bank fraud case

A Delhi court has imposed a ban on Google, Meta and unknown parties (including media houses) from publishing any content linking Manoj Kesari Chand Sandesara or his family members to the alleged Sterling Biotech bank fraud case. .Senior Civil Judge Richa Sharma of the Tis Hazari Courts passed an ex parte interim injunction and ordered Google and Meta and John Doe defendants (unknown persons) to “de-index, de-list, and de-reference the URLs and content of articles flagged by Sandesara. “Further, the defendants no.1 and 2 [Google and Meta] are directed to de-index, de-list, and de-reference the URLs and content of the said articles of the media houses as detailed in the plaint and such other links not known to the Plaintiff relating the subject matter in issue from its search engine results. The defendants are directed to comply with the said directions forthwith, not exceeding 36 hours,” the Court said in its April 4 order. The defendants were given 36 hours to comply with the directions..Judge Chadha passed the order after Sandesara filed a defamation case. Sandesara argued that various news reports and videos hosted on digital platforms falsely portrayed him and his family as “fugitives” and perpetrators of financial crimes. He contended that such content remained accessible online despite the resolution of proceedings before the Supreme Court.According to the plea, the Supreme Court in November and December 2025 had accepted a settlement involving payment exceeding ₹5,100 crore to lender banks and ordered the quashing of criminal proceedings and related investigations against the promoters. Sandesara also invoked the right to be forgotten, arguing that the persistence of such content violates his fundamental rights to privacy and dignity and continued to damage his personal and business reputation..After considering the case, the Court agreed with Sandesara that any publication, re- publication or circulation of content linking him and his family members to Sterling Biotech Limited and bank fraud would amount to reputational harm and stigma. Judge Chadha added that the media publications are not “in spirit of the right to freedom of press/media as the same is not an absolute right and is to be exercised within permissible limits”.“The language used in the headings of the articles as reproduced on record are mainly imposing criminality to the plaintiff. The presence of the articles on the social media platform being accessible to one and all even pursuant to the quashing of all proceedings against the plaintiff, definitely has the magnitude to damage the reputation of plaintiff and his family of which compensation in money, may not be adequate,” the Court stressed. It added that the media has a primary duty to ensure accuracy, objectivity and fairness in its reporting, and must avoid sensationalism. Therefore, the Court passed the injunction order. .[Read Order]