Bombay High Court grants relief to Raymond, restrains further sale of Vijaypat Singhania autobiography

The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted interim relief to Raymond Limited, restraining the sale, circulation and distribution of the autobiography 'An Incomplete Man' of Vijaypat Singhania, the former chairperson of the Raymond Group..The order was passed by vacation judge Justice SP Tavade on a plea filed by Raymond.The 83-year-old industrialist-aviator is presently embroiled in a legal battle with his son and the Raymond company over the title of his autobiography and its release.The petition stated that the book infringes Raymond’s right to privacy, is defamatory and discusses its business operations and other confidential information without the company’s consent besides infringing upon the company's registered trademark - ‘The complete man’."The book is also believed to be containing information and details about the confidential arbitration proceedings and other legal proceedings that are on-going between the petitioner's (Raymond) chairman Gautam Singhania and Vijaypat Singhania," the plea said..Justice Tavade noted that Singhania had published the autobiography in spite of injunction order against him. The book was available for sale through Amazon digitally and in hard copy.“The said action is required to stop because the injunction order is running against the respondents.. Further damage is required to be averted by issuing the injunction order as prayed for,” Justice Tavade opined..In light of these observations, Justice Tavade passed an order restraining the respondents though their legal representatives from advertising, selling, distributing and otherwise making available the book, its excerpts till pendency of the pleadings pertaining to the dispute..The plea filed through law firm Mehta & Padamsey stated that, in 2018 Raymond had filed a suit before a Thane court against Singhania and the erstwhile publisher Penguin Random House.In 2019, Sessions Court at Thane restrained Singhania from publishing the book. However on October 30, 2021, Raymond group came to know that Singhania had released his autobiography which was published by Macmillan Publishers India Pvt Ltd and sold over Amazon India website..The next day articles containing excerpts from the book were also published on websites, after which Raymond sent a legal notice to the respondents to cease and desist from publishing, posting and circulating excerpts of the book on its website.Aggrieved by the inaction and the contempt, Raymond was compelled to approach the High Court since the Sessions Court was not sitting due to the ongoing Diwali break..Senior Advocate Tushar Cooper with Advocates Karthik Nayyar, Krish Kalra, Rushab Kumar, Eram Qureshi and Siddharth Puthoor briefed by Mehta & Padamsey appeared for Raymond.Advocates Yakshay Chheda and Yash Bhatia appeared for Macmillan..[Read Order]