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Informist, Tuesday, Jun. 9, 2026

 

--HC nixes Lilavati Trust plea for bar on defamatory statements by HDFC Bank 

--CONTEXT:Lilavati Trust filed INR 10-bln lawsuit against HDFC Bank, its CEO

 

NEW DELHI – The Bombay High Court Tuesday rejected a plea by Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Trust and its trustee Prashant Kishor Mehta, seeking an interim injunction to restrain HDFC Bank, its Chief Executive Officer Sashidhar Jagdishan and others from making defamatory statements that harmed the reputation of the plaintiffs. The high court said that the petitioners had not made out a "strong prima facie" case against HDFC Bank and others to hold that their statements were defamatory in character.

 

HDFC Bank had stated that Mehta had initiated false and malicious proceedings against Jagdishan to thwart recovery of INR 650 million in respect of outstanding loan and interest pertaining to Mehta's family business named Splendor Gems. The bank had said that Mehta grossly misused Lilavati Trust's name and sought to intimidate the bank and its senior personnel by filing a false complaint. Further, the bank had said that Mehta and his family members owed substantial amounts to HDFC Bank which were never repaid. The recovery and enforcement actions have been taken by the bank over two decades and at every stage, Prashant Mehta and his other family members have launched numerous vexatious legal actions, the bank had said.

 

The high court said that HDFC Bank's statements were based on strong material, and represent a bona fide measure to clarify the factual position when the bank was faced with a media campaign. It was in public interest that HDFC Bank clarified the factual position considering that banks hold a greater intensity of promise to society and have to be held to a higher standard, the high court said.  

 

Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan said HDFC Bank's statements do not lend themselves to be regarded as retaliatory defamation for the defamation perceived to have been suffered by HDFC Bank and Jagdishan at the hands of the plaintiffs. Whether to react through litigation for defamation or to deal with the plaintiffs' media campaign through clarifications contained in the statements is a matter of autonomous choice for HDFC Bank to make, he said. That the plaintiffs have chosen to file a defamation suit in response to HDFC Bank's reaction is not relevant for consideration of interim relief in the suit, he said.

 

The high court said that grave and irreparable harm would be done to HDFC Bank and others if an intervention is made in favour of the petitioners, who have an established track record of running a media campaign against the bank and its officials. Gagging HDFC Bank would expose it to the risk of being unable to respond to continued attacks by the plaintiffs, said the court.

 

Last year, the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust had filed an INR 10-billion defamation lawsuit against HDFC Bank and Jagdishan for mental agony and harassment caused due to allegedly wilful and deliberate torturous acts of defamation committed by the defendants. The trust also sought an interim injunction, arguing that an ordinary man reading the bank's statements would get the impression that Lilavati Trust and Mehta have borrowed money from HDFC Bank and defaulted in repaying such sums. Such an imputation necessarily lowers the reputation of the plaintiffs and excites adverse opinions and feelings about them among society, they said. The contents of the statements are patently false because neither Lilavati Trust nor Mehta had borrowed any funds from HDFC Bank, the petitioners said. 

 

On Tuesday, shares of HDFC Bank ended steady at INR 738.35 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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