The fight between Software Engineer Pradeep Poonia and WhiteHatJr is becoming murkier every day. In the ongoing case in High Court, the next date for the hearing was set for January 6, 2021. Meanwhile, Pradeep Poonia has alleged that WhiteHatJr and its founder Karan Bajaj are not leaving any stone unturned to silence his voice. As per the LinkedIn post of December 7, Poonia said that his Twitter @WhiteHatSnr account was suspended, and WhiteHatJr is allegedly behind the suspension.
In the post, he mentioned that so far, 17 YouTube videos, 2 YouTube channels, 2 Reddit accounts, 1st Twitter handle, 1 Quora account, and 3 LinkedIn articles have been removed. He further added that the company had forced him to remove 12 tweets and 4 videos using legal muscle.
High Court ordered Poonia to take down tweets
On November 23, the Delhi High Court had ordered Pradeep Poonia to take down specific tweets against WhiteHatJr. The court had specifically asked him if he wanted to say that ‘housewives are uneducated.’ In his Tweets, Poonia had reportedly alleged that the teachers on the WhiteHatJr platform are not educated and pointed in a ‘derogatory’ way that how ‘housewives’ can teach programming. The court had also restrained him from commenting on the educational or professional background of the teachers.
The court said, “You are saying that their teachers are housewives, are you saying they are uneducated persons? How can you be so derogatory towards them? Of course, this is defamation.” The court was also displeased by the fact that Poonia had posted personal numbers of the teachers on social media platforms. Justice Gupta said, “Who are you to put their numbers in the public domain? Who has given you this right?”
Delhi HC: Who is stopping you from a healthy discussion? They have a registered trademark. You are saying that their teachers are housewives, are you saying they are uneducated persons? How can you be so derogatory towards them? Ofcourse this is defamation. #WhiteHatJr
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) November 23, 2020
“Is this not malicious that you are stating their teachers are housewives? Even if they are housewives what is the problem if they’re doing part-time jobs?” Justice Gupta further questioned Poonia. The court had ordered Poonia to take down specific tweets dated 12.09.2020 regarding the number of teachers at WhiteHat Jr, 5.09.2020 alleging WhiteHat to be a pyramid scheme, and other specific tweets dated 11.10.2020, 3.09.2020, 22.09.2020, 20.10.2020, 23.10.2020 respectively, Live Law reported.
HC: Poonia is directed to Take Down a tweets dated 12.09.2020 regarding no. of teachers, 5.09.2020 reg pyramid scheme, other specific tweets on 11.10.2020, 3.09.2020, 22.09.2020, 20.10.2020, 23.10.2020.
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) November 23, 2020
The court also restrained him from hacking or unauthorized accessing of the internal communication platform SLACK. The court asked him not to post any internal communication between WhiteHatJr’s employees on social media platforms. He was directed to remove specific videos as well.
What was the case?
WhiteHatJr and its founder Karan Bajaj had filed a defamation suit of Rs.20 crore against YouTuber and alleged whistle-blower Pradeep Poonia. In a series of allegations, Poonia had accused WhiteHatJr of misleading its customers with fake stats and advertisements. Karan Bajaj, the founder of WhiteHatJr, alleged that in early September, Poonia started posting on various social media platforms against WhiteHatJr. He had called his claims sinister and defamatory in nature. Bajaj had alleged that WhiteHatJr filed takedown notices to social media platforms, and they were removed only to be reuploaded again and again by Poonia.
