Delhi High Court restrains former women's coach from publishing defamatory content against Indian men's hockey captain Manpreet Singh

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday restrained former head coach of Indian women’s national hockey team, Sjoerd Marijne, from issuing any statements, giving interviews or publishing excerpts from his upcoming book in relation to the allegations made by him against men's hockey team captain Manpreet Singh [Manpreet Singh v HarperCollins Publishers India Pvt Ltd & Anr]. .An excerpt from Marijne’s upcoming book -- ‘Will Power: The Inside Story of the Incredible Turnaround in Indian Women’s Hockey’ -- was published in The Indian Express newspaper where he alleged that Singh had asked the team's young players to under-perform on purpose so that his mates could get into the team..Single-judge Justice Amit Bansal today remarked that it is unfortunate that the former coach is making all these allegations against players.The Court noted that in its prima facie view, the statements made by Marijne are defamatory and injurious to the goodwill and reputation of Singh.“In the event the aforesaid statements as highlighted come in public domain, irreparable injury will be caused to the plaintiff. Consequently, till the next date of hearing Defendant No 2 (Marijne) is restrained from issuing any statement, giving interviews, correspondence and publishing excerpts in relation to the aforesaid statements as pointed out in the manuscript,” the Court ordered..It also allowed Singh's counsel to write to The Indian Express to take down the article. Justice Bansal said that Singh can make Indian Express a party to their suit if the newspaper does not remove the piece..Advocate Swathi Sukumar appeared for HarperCollins India, the publisher of the book, and assured the court that till the pendency of the case, they will not publish the portion of the book referred to in the suit and will file their affidavit on the plea as well..Singh has filed a defamation suit in the court arguing that the statements made by Marijne are false and defamatory.Advocate Shyel Trehan, appearing for Singh, told the court that the article published in the Indian Express reveals that Marijne came to know about Singh’s alleged conversations with players through third or fourth source and that this is not even hearsay but Chinese whisper.Trehan argued that Marijne is currently based in England and running rogue.He is playing foul with every system in India, the counsel added..The Court issued summons on the suit and listed the case for further consideration on November 18..Earlier this week, a Division Bench of the High Court had restrained Marijne and HarperCollins from publishing any material related to the medical condition of Indian hockey player Gurjit Kaur.The bench had said that as the coach of the national team, Marijne was clearly and unequivocally bound by the code of conduct which required him not to disclose for personal gain or benefit, any information entrusted to him in confidence.There can be no quarrel with the dictum of the Supreme Court that the right to protection of data such as medical information, is one that falls squarely within the domain of reasonable expectation paradigm, the Court said.