Bombay High Court win for activist posting videos questioning quality of Lodha Group constructions
Krishnaraj Rao’s videos about structural faults in the Lodha Group’s buildings led to the developer filing a Rs 100-crore defamation suit.
The Bombay High Court has issued an interim order striking down an injunction request by the Lodha Group against journalist and activist Krishnaraj Rao – an order that is part of an ongoing defamation suit against Rao.
The developer had filed a Rs 100-crore suit against Rao after he put up a video in January in which he was seen punching a wall of a flat which promptly cracked. Rao used the video to question the quality of construction of the New Cuffe Parade flat belonging to a couple, Amit Jaisingh and Shilpi Thard. Since then, he has made several other blog posts and videos for his YouTube channel in which he is seen highlighting other structural faults in Lodha projects.
Justice Gautam Patel dismissed the main notice of motion, which sought a gag order against Rao from posting anything about the quality of Lodha’s buildings – for lack of merit. According to Mumbai Mirror, Patel called the New Cuff Parade project “a triumph of imagination over geography” and dismissed the plea for relief sought by Lodha.