The High Court of Bombay has passed an interim injunction restraining the sale and distribution of industrialist Vijaypat Singhania’s autobiography called ‘Incomplete Life.’ Singhania, the former chairman of the Raymond Group, is being sued by the company for defamatory content and disclosure of confidential information.

The Raymond Group, led by Vijaypat’s son Gautam Singhania, filed a suit against Vijaypat and his publisher Penguin Random House in September 2018, seeking a permanent injunction against publishing the autobiography on the grounds that it discusses confidential business operations, arbitral proceedings, and other legal proceedings of the company, thus violating their right to privacy. It also alleged that the autobiography defames the Raymond Group and its tagline ‘A Complete Man.’

In February 2019, the high court passed an interim order restraining the defendants from publishing the book until the district court at Thane decides on the matter. This order continued to be extended by the high court and district court in various proceedings pending before them.

Last Thursday, the company approached the high court seeking urgent relief through the court’s writ jurisdiction under Articles 226 and 227 of the Indian Constitution. It alleged that the book had been “surreptitiously” published in digital format by Macmillan Publishers and Amazon India.

Justice Surendra Tavade, who passed the order, noted:

It appears that the Respondent No. 3 has published autobiography in spite of injunction order passed against him. The said book is ofered for sale through Amazon by digitally and by hard copy. The said action is required to be stop because the injunction order is running against the Respondents.