Delhi High Court seeks report from Hockey Coach and HarperCollins on plea by player Gurjit Kaur

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Synopsis

The Division Bench remarked that "for any contempt, there has to be willful disobedience". Accordingly, the Bench directed the respondents to file an affidavit and listed the matter for December 7.

A Division Bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Amit Sharma directed the former Women's Indian Hockey team coach Sjoerd Marjine, and publishing company HarperCollins to submit a report of the actions taken in consideration of the order dated September 19, 2022.

On September 19, the division bench restrained the former Women's Indian Hockey team coach Sjoerd Marjine and publishing company HarperCollins from including any information about the medical condition of a celebrated Hockey player Gurjit Kaur in the book ‘Will Power: The Inside Story of the incredible turnaround in Indian Women’s Hockey' scheduled to be released on September 21.

The court was hearing a plea filed by Gurjit Kaur, a Hockey player against the release of the book ‘Will Power’ authored by Sjoerd Marjine.

The counsel appearing for Kaur informs the court that even after, the high court’s order dated September 19, wherein the bench granted an interim stay for Kaur’s plea challenging the release of the book. It is submitted that on September 24, Kaur received the book ‘Will Power’ from Amazon.

Counsel further informs the court, that a contempt application has also been filed by Kaur against the respondents for not following the orders of the high court.

Taking note of the submissions, the division bench stated, “in any contempt, there has to be willful disobedience” and directed Sjoerd Marjine and publishing company HarperCollins to submit relevant documents following the division bench order of September 19, along with an affidavit.

Accordingly, the court listed the matter for December 7, 2022.

Case Title: Gurjit Kaur v. Harpercollins Publishers India Private Limited & Anr.