In a financial tug-of-war between fraud panic and operational paralysis, the Delhi High Court has stepped in to loosen the knots around HT Media’s job portal, Shine.com. The Court directed RBL Bank to unfreeze the company’s bank account—albeit with a ₹10 lakh lien tag, just in case things get murky again.
This comes after HT Media told the Court that their account had been repeatedly frozen at the behest of Gujarat Police, following complaints that fraudsters were impersonating Shine.com representatives and duping unsuspecting job seekers.
Justice Vikas Mahajan noted that out of all the noise, only two transactions were actually under dispute. That didn’t justify a full-on account freeze, the Court said.
Instead, a more balanced approach was ordered: slap a lien on ₹10 lakh and let the account breathe. If fresh complaints pop up, the bank must alert Shine.com before pulling any plugs.
HT Media argued the freeze wasn’t just inconvenient—it was disruptive. Cheques bounced. Salaries stalled. Daily operations were derailed. The company insisted that the fraud entries flagged by authorities were minimal, often ranging from zero to ₹20,000.
What irked them more? That RBL Bank froze everything instead of just ring-fencing the disputed amounts.
With this order, Shine.com gets back access to its funds. But it walks the tightrope under a financial spotlight, as the court has made clear: any future complaints must be handled with due warning—not sudden shutdowns.