Delhi HC bars IIT engineer from accessing WhiteHat Jr’s communications

The Delhi high court on Monday temporarily restrained an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-trained engineer from hacking or unauthorizedly accessing coding startup WhiteHat Jr’s internal communication platform.

The court was hearing a $2.3 million defamation suit filed by Karan Bajaj, owner of WhiteHat Jr, alleging that Pradeep Poonia was defaming him, his content and teachers on social media outlets. Bajaj has accused Poonia of infringing trademarks and copyright of properties owned by WhiteHat Jr, unauthorizedly accessing the company’s private communications app and sharing the phone numbers of its educators on public platforms .

It restrained Poonia from making any remarks on the quality of teachers of WhiteHat Jr or on their educational or professional background.

Online education platform Byju’s acquired Mumbai-based WhiteHat Jr earlier this year in an all-cash deal worth $300 million. WhiteHat Jr. is a coding platform that looks to equip students with computer coding skills and is largely aimed at students from classes 9 to 12. Founded in November 2018, the edtech startup helps children aged 6 to 14 years build commercial-ready games and apps online using the fundamentals of coding. It offers four levels of courses including beginner, intermediate, advanced, and professional, business newspaper Mint reported in August.

On Monday, justice Mukta Gupta also rebuked Poonia for using derogatory references to homemakers in tweets he posted, after senior advocate and WhiteHart Jr counsel Mukul Rohtagi told the court that Poonia had falsely alleged that WhiteHat Jr employs “housewives” to teach coding. He added that some of those teaching coding on the platform are PhDs and highly qualified.

Rohatgi said Poonia had also got a 13-year-old cousin to sign up for free classes on WhiteHat Jr under different names. The cousin records the classes and later, these recordings are used to defame the teachers, who are called names like “glorified salesman,” he claimed..

“Who is stopping you from a healthy discussion? They (WhiteHat Jr) 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? This is, of course, defamation,” the judge remarked during the hearing.

“Who are you to put their {telephone} numbers in the public domain? Who has given you this right?”……..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?” it added.

Bajaj, a graduate from BITS Pilani has contended that Poonia was repeatedly trolling his company’s content and teachers on the social media platform.

The judge asked Poonia to not use, telecast or transmit an