Abhishek Manu Singhvi, HarperCollins amicably settle dispute as publishing house withdraws copies of Sarosh Zaiwalla's book

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi and publisher HarperCollins have amicably settled their dispute arising out of the publication of Sarosh Zaiwalla's book titled “ Honour Bound: Adventures of an Indian Lawyer in English Court", a Delhi Court was informed last week (Dr Abhishek Singhvi v. Sarosh Zaiwalla & ors).

. Singhvi was represented by Advocates Vijay Aggarwal, Jaiveer Shergill and Naman Joshi .

HarperCollins India was represented by Ashima Obhan , partner at Obhan & Associates, along with litigation Of Counsel Swathi Sukumar and Associate Shivam Patanjali.

Shergill and Obhan negotiated the settlement agreement for their respective clients.

. In April this year, Senior Advocate Singhvi had filed a suit for a permanent and mandatory injunction with respect to Zaiwalla's book and a Times of India article titled ' I learnt from Bofors never to act in a case involving internal Indian politics, says Sarosh Zaiwalla' .

.Strong prima facie case made out in Abhishek Manu Singhvi's favour: Delhi Court restrains sale of Sarosh Zaiwalla's book. Singhvi had claimed that Zaiwalla, in his book, made defamatory remarks against his late father LM Singhvi in relation to the Bofors deal.

. It was alleged that HarperCollins failed to act as a responsible publishing house and chose to publish ex facie defamatory statements and content without any efforts to check the same.

. While issuing summons in the suit, the court of District Judge Sanjiv Jain had restrained publisher HarperCollins from marketing, selling or supplying Sarosh Zaiwalla's book.

. Earlier this month, a joint application under Order 23 Rule 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure was moved by Singhvi and the authorized representative of HarperCollins.

. The court was informed last Tuesday that after the order was passed in April, the parties had their discussions and have now mutually and amicably arrived at a settlement agreement, with which HarperCollins has already complied with.

. Singhvi and HarperCollins thus wished to put an end to the disputes between them.

. In fact, the publishing house has issued a statement that it has withdrawn copies of the book.

. District judge Jain thereafter recorded the statement of the parties through video conferencing and perused the compromise as well as the application.

. In view of the above, the court directed that the decree sheet qua the compromise between the two parties be prepared and ordered,

. "In view of the voluntary statement given by the plaintiff and on behalf of defendant no.2 by CEO of defendant no.2 an authorized person vide Board resolution Ex.C4, this suit qua the parties i.e. plaintiff and defendant no.2 is compromised. Parties are bound by the terms of the settlement Ex. C6..Let the case proceed/continue against defendant no.1, 3 to 6 and be listed on 16.07.2020 i.e. date already fixed." Sanjiv Jain, District Judge/Commercial Court 03 . The suit against other defendants including Sarosh Zaiwalla will be heard next on July 16.

.Delhi Court issues summons to Sarosh Zaiwalla in defamation case filed by Abhishek Manu Singhvi. Senior Advocate Singhvi has filed a separate criminal defamation case against Sarosh Zaiwalla.

. Read the Order:

Abhishek Manu Singhvi, HarperCollins amicably settle dispute as publishing house withdraws copies of Sarosh Zaiwalla's book

Aditi Singh