Jewellery firm moves Kerala HC against seeking action over social media posts in gold smuggling case

Bhima Jewellers has approached Kerala High Court seeking legal action against those engaging in social media campaign against it in connection with the gold smuggling case.

A petition was filed by B Govindan, Managing partner of Bhima Jewellers, through senior advocate CC Thomas on Tuesday.

According to the plea, scandalous posts were published by two persons on Facebook regarding the seizure of diplomatic consignment at Thiruvananthapuram International Airport.

"Through these posts, they have attempted to tarnish the image of the firm by dragging it into the seizure of the consignment. In fact, the firm has no relation to the seizure. Being a public figure and a dignitary, the petitioner was invited to attend United Arab Emirates Consulate Day and many dignitaries from various parts of the world participated in it," the plea said.

It said that a person from Palakkad "forged the logo of the firm and gave a scandalous caption".

"A former employee of the firm, who was fired for misappropriation, shared the posts to various persons working in the jewellery business. Two vernacular online news portals published news about the petitioner's firm," the petition said.

According to the plea, the persons who made the posts on Facebook and the online news portals together have caused serious and irreparable damages to the petitioner's firm.

The plea also said that a complaint has been filed before the police for blocking the posts but "no action has been taken".

( With inputs from ANI )