The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed Google and social media platforms X and Meta to take down an allegedly defamatory video about Isha Foundation and its founder Jaggi Vasudev uploaded by YouTuber Shyam Meera Singh, Bar and Bench reported.

The video, titled “Sadhguru EXPOSED: What’s happening in Jaggi Vasudev’s Ashram”, was uploaded on Singh’s YouTube channel on February 24, Live Law reported. It alleged that minors were being exploited at Vasudev’s ashram.

Singh had also shared the video on X.

On Wednesday, Justice Subramonium Prasad directed the video to be taken down on a defamation suit filed by Isha Foundation against Singh. The foundation had sought the removal of the video in the interim.

The court told Singh to refrain from publishing or sharing the video further while also banning its upload on social media platforms, Bar and Bench reported.

“Defendant 4 [Shyam Meera Singh] ... subscribers of the channel of defendant number 4 are restrained from creating, publishing, uploading, and disseminating defamatory videos....,” Bar and Bench quoted Prasad as saying.

The court listed the defamation suit for hearing on July 9 and the application for interim relief on May 9.

In its suit, Isha Foundation claimed that the content uploaded by Singh in the video was “malicious” and “palpably false in nature”, Bar and Bench reported.

During the hearing, the counsel for the foundation said that Singh had written an email to it on February 19 about his intention “to make a video regarding Sadhguru [Vasudev] allegedly asking minor girls to take off their upper clothes”, Bar and Bench reported.

“He [Singh] asked certain questions about the allegations,” the counsel added.

The counsel noted that the video was “strategically and deliberately” released two days prior to the Hindu festival of Maha Shivratri in February.

This was done to create public furore around the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was a chief guest during an event on the festival at the foundation, the suit alleged.

“It [video] is open to the world to see,” the counsel added. “The video has over 9 lakh views and over 13 thousand comments. There are defamatory tweets in this regard. Reputation built over decades cannot be dismantled like this.”

In January 2024, the court had directed Singh to remove from all his social media channels an allegedly defamatory video about Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

The video had described the jailed sect leader’s rise as the chief of the Dera Sacha Sauda and delved into the allegations of rape and murder against him.

Rahim was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in 2017 for raping two of his women disciples at the Dera headquarters in Haryana’s Sirsa district. In 2021, he and four others were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Ranjit Singh, a former manager of his sect.

After the video was uploaded, Rahim had sued Meera.