The Delhi High Court has restrained former India hockey coach Sjoerd Marijne, from issuing any statements, giving interviews or publishing excerpts from his upcoming book ‘Will Power: The Inside Story of the Incredible Turnaround in Indian Women’s Hockey’ in relation to the allegations made by him against men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh, Bar and Bench reported on Wednesday.
Justice Amit Bansal issued the ruling on Wednesday after Manpreet Singh filed a defamation suit arguing that Marijne’s statements are false and defamatory.
In his book, an excerpt of which was published in The Indian Express, Marijne alleged that when he was coach of the Indian men’s national team, Manpreet asked one of the younger players to under-perform to enable his friends to get into the team.
Manpreet’s lawyer argued that The Indian Express article revealed that Marijne came to know of Manpreet’s alleged conversations “through third or fourth sources and that this is not even hearsay but Chinese whisper,” as reported by Bar and Bench.
A Division Bench of the High Court had earlier restrained Marijne and his publisher HarperCollins from publishing any material related to Indian hockey player Gurjit Kaur’s medical condition.