On Saturday (November 21), BYJU’S-owned online coding platform WhiteHat Jr’s CEO and founder Karan Bajaj filed an INR 20 Cr ($2.6 Mn) defamation case against software engineer Pradeep Poonia, who on Twitter goes by the name WhiteHatSnr. On Monday (November 22, 2020), Poonia will have to appear in the Delhi high court on this matter.
The lawsuit was lodged about Poonia’s “defamatory comments” on WhiteHat Jr. The firm, WhiteHat Jr & Anr, represented by Fidus Law Chambers, accused the defendant of infringement of the trademark, dissemination, and dilution of the trademark, infringement of copyright, and infringement of the contract. In addition to this, Poonia was also charged with mischief as well as a violation of the company and its employees’ privacy.
The notice specified that by commenting on WhiteHat Jr’s ads concerning an imaginary child “Wolf Gupta,” a teen who landed a job on Google, Poonia began this defamation spree in early September. “Following the withdrawal of the advertisements, the Defendant’s posts quickly turned sinister, with the Defendant claiming that Plaintiff No. 1 [WhiteHat Jr] had “murdered” Wolf Gupta,” the notice read.
A takedown notice against Poonia had already been released by WhiteHat Jr, which he adhered to the notice highlighted. “But Poonia soon allegedly launched a “systematic and extremely defamatory attack” against the WhiteHat Jr. “even resorting to actions that are brazenly unconstitutional and eventually made wild and unfounded claims against the Plaintiffs.
The organization also accused Poonia of breaking into the internal business communications network of WhiteHat Jr, SLACK, to access confidential communications from staff, including communications with parents (customers), and position them in the public domain.
This argument was about Poonia’s tweet thread, showing how the ORM team of WhiteHat Jr treated any negative comments on the internet against the company. The thread also highlighted the company’s internal communications concerning the tweets of angel investor Aniruddha Malpani and the writer Abhishek Baxi of Morning Sense.
The development comes after Tekie accused WhiteHat Jr. of using unethical methods to understand and copy their teaching model for children’s platform coding. Tekie cofounder Naman Mukund claimed that a WhiteHat Jr employee impersonated the identity of a grade six student to attend Tekie’s trial class.
