Madras HC restrains temple activist Rangarajan Narasimhan from making defamatory remarks against Vedic scholar Dushyanth Sridhar

The Madras High Court has restrained temple activist Rangarajan Narasimhan, of Srirangam in Tiruchi district, from making defamatory statements aimed at maligning Vedic scholar and orator Dushyanth Sridhar’s reputation in any manner on social media, particualrly X and YouTube.

Justice K. Kumaresh Babu granted the interim injunction until the disposal of a defamation suit filed by the orator early this year seeking damages to the tune of ₹1 crore from the activist for having already allegedly made several abusive and derogatory remarks against him on social media.

The orator had filed the suit in February along with an application seeking the leave of the court to institute the case in Chennai despite him being a resident of Bengaluru and the defendant being a resident of Srirangam. He claimed many of his followers were in Chennai and therefore, a part of cause of action had arisen here.

Senior counsel Satish Parasaran relied upon a 2011 judgment of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom in Turner versus Grovit and a 2022 judgment of the High Court of Australia in Dow Jones and Co Inc versus Gutnick to contend that his client was entitled to choose a forum of his convenience.

Accepting his submissions, Justice Babu had allowed the application to grant leave on June 23, 2025, and directed the High Court Registry to number the suit. Subsequently, he took up the plea for grant of interim injunction, until the disposal of the suit, and gave four weeks’ time for the activist to file a reply.

The judge said, even during the arguments on the application to grant leave to file the suit, the activist had admitted to have made certain statements against the orator on social media but his defence was that those statements were neither defamatory nor derogatory.

“This court, on going through the statements made by the respondent, prima facie finds that such statements are defamatory in nature. Hence, there shall be an order of interim injunction as prayed for,” the judge ordered.

Advocate Rahul Balaji, representing Mr. Sridhar, said, the activist was in the habit of making objectionable statements against every other person on social media. He produced screenshots of statements made against a senior counsel in order to dissuade him from appearing for the orator.

On being convinced that the statements made against the senior counsel were disparaging, Justice Babu wrote: “Such statements have been made challenging the learned senior counsel who had appeared for the applicant… They are in the nature of making the learned senior counsel to keep him away from appearing in the cases.”

Therefore, apart from injuncting the activist from making defamatory statements against the orator, the judge also restrained him from making any kind of statements, in the future, against the lawyers appearing for the opponents in his cases.