The Delhi High
Court has ordered suspension of the operations of a website "preying on
the public's religious beliefs" and deceiving them by allegedly promoting
itself as the official platform for delivery of 'prasad' from the Pran
Pratishtha ceremony at the Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Justice Sanjeev
Narula, while dealing with a lawsuit against the website by Khadi and Village
Industries Commission (KVIC), observed that the defendant platform was
functioning under the name of "Khadi Organic" which was deceptively
similar to the plaintiff, a statutory body established for the promotion and
development of textiles and the proprietor of Khadi" trademarks, and
directed taking down of all deceptive social media posts.
"It appears
that Defendants No. 1 and 2 (the individual and company behind the platform)
are attempting to monopolise the consecration event by preying on the public's
religious beliefs and devotion and deceiving them into transferring money to
Defendants No. 1 and 2, using the Plaintiff's goodwill," the court
observed in an interim order passed earlier this month.
"The links
to the videos posted by disgruntled consumers annexed with the plaint further
indicate that Defendants No. 1 and 2 have falsely obtained money from the
members of the public without providing a confirmation receipt or proof of
dispatch... (The authority concerned) shall suspend the operation of the domain
name/ website www.khadiorganic.com registered by them," the court added.
The KVIC told the
court that the defendant platform was offering various products such as
garments, collectibles, food items, home temples, goods required to conduct
religious ceremonies such as Gangajal and even seeking financial contributions
to facilitate their free prasad initiative.
The court was
also told that as per the information hosted on the homepage of the website,
members of the public desirous of obtaining the Ram Mandir prasad for free
could place their orders by filling a form provided there and paying a charge
of Rs 51 in case of Indian customers and USD 11 for foreign customers.
The plaintiff
argued that the defendants have no right to misappropriate its registered
"Khadi" mark and render a false impression that it was affiliated
with the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust, which is organising the
consecration ceremony.