Ashneer Grover fined Rs 200,000 for defamatory content on BharatPe

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday fined BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover Rs 2 lakh for making defamatory posts against the company, despite the court’s order.

Grover also apologised before the court for his social media posts against his former employer.

Justice Rekha Palli said Grover’s conduct was ‘appalling’ and imposed the fine for violating the court’s May order, which asked both Grover and BharatPe not to use ‘unparliamentary’ and ‘defamatory’ language against each other.

This was on BharatPe’s application in its pending suit, saying that Grover’s social media posts earlier this month were defamatory for the company.

The application said Grover has been violating the Court’s orders repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Grover’s counsel tendered an apology before the court and gave an undertaking, saying that he will not do anything against the court’s orders henceforth. He also told the court that the ‘defamatory’ posts have been taken down as well.

However, BharatPe said that the damage was already done as Grover’s posts were already picked up by media organisations by the time they were taken down.

The court has directed the fine to be deposited with the Delhi High Court Clerks Association.

Grover’s counsel also said that there are 15 proceedings pending between BharatPe and Grover, so the matter should be referred to mediation.

However, this suggestion was rejected by BharatPe.