The Delhi High Court has granted ICICI Bank an interim order, barring a former probationary employee, Dharmendra Gupta, from publishing or sharing defamatory content about the bank. The ruling, issued on Thursday, August 14, comes after the bank and an individual plaintiff, Kapil Dev Singh, filed a lawsuit alleging that Gupta was making abusive and derogatory statements online following his termination.
Gupta, who served as a relationship manager on probation from May 11, 2022, until his termination on June 6, 2023, is alleged to have uploaded over 100 videos across various social media platforms. The bank claims these videos contain defamatory content aimed at damaging its reputation.
The court, presided over by Justice Amit Bansal, was informed that Gupta had also allegedly made abusive remarks against bank employees during a conciliation proceeding on May 15, 2025. Screen recordings of these proceedings were submitted as evidence to the court.
After noting that Gupta had been served with a notice of the lawsuit but failed to appear, Justice Bansal concluded that there was a strong “prima facie” case for granting the interim relief. The judge emphasized that as a well-regarded financial institution, ICICI Bank could suffer irreparable harm if the defamatory statements continued.
The injunction prohibits Gupta from “addressing, publishing, distributing, posting, tweeting, sharing, circulating, uploading or otherwise disseminating any abusive, derogatory, or disparaging videos, posts or other content against the plaintiffs.” He is also forbidden from sharing any audio or video recordings of quasi-judicial or judicial proceedings related to the case.
The case is scheduled for a hearing before the Joint Registrar on October 9, 2025, and will be heard by the High Court again on January 15, 2026.