Mumbai: Poonam Bhagat seeks HC help to bring down videos

Poonam Bhagat

Poonam Bhagat

The Bombay high court on Wednesday gave the video-sharing website YouTube till Monday to furnish the details of the person who uploaded ‘defamatory' videos of socialite Poonam Bhagat on the website. Bhagat has claimed that her estranged husband Jaidev Shroff, Director of United Phosphorous Limited (UPL), was circulating these videos of her with some of their common friends, so Shroff also submitted an undertaking that he will be using the said videos only for court proceedings.

Also read: Poonam Bhagat case: Bandra court under scanner for defying Bombay High Court order

Bhagat's contention
Bhagat is currently locked in a matrimonial dispute with Shroff and moved the HC on Wednesday, claiming that some videos, which were doctored, were making the rounds on social media websites and insisted that her husband was behind it. She also told the court that the videos on YouTube were uploaded under the username ‘black box'.

Poonam Bhagat and Jaidev Shroff

"These videos are very defamatory in nature and have been uploaded by people who we don't know," said senior counsel Janak Dwarkadas, appearing on Bhagat's behalf before Justice Shahrukh Kathawala.

Also read: High Court allows Poonam Bhagat to challenge transfer of poisoning case

Justice Kathawala then asked YouTube to reply by Monday with the details of people/IP address that have uploaded the purported videos on the website.

Directive to Shroff
Meanwhile, he also asked Shroff, who was represented by senior counsel Navroz Seervai, to not use the videos for anything else apart from the court cases. However, even as Seervai denied that his client had been the one sharing the videos amongst their friends and on social media, he tendered an undertaking to the court on Shroff's behalf that his client would only use the videos while representing himself in his court cases.

Also read: Jaidev Shroff to challenge HC order over wife Poonam Bhagat's entry to house

In the family court case filed by Shroff, he has made several allegations against Bhagat for ill-treating both him and his children from his first marriage. To that end, the petitioner has submitted recordings of her behavior - both video and audio - as evidence.

Poonam Bhagat. File pic

Bhagat, on the other hand, has filed a divorce case in October 2015. Things got murky with Bhagat filing a theft case against Shroff and his filing a counter case of her poisoning him with the help of a Bengali Baba.