Hyderabad: City court orders Rapido to remove 'defamatory' ad

Hyderabad: The 10th Junior Civil Judge of City Civil Court has directed the App-based bike taxi aggregator, Rapido, to refrain from telecasting and streaming the advertisement, which featured Tollywood actor Allu Arjun that seemed to be defaming the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC).

The court also directed Google's online video sharing platform YouTube to block access to the original and modified version of the commercial video.

Rapido aired wide advertisements suggesting that it was uncomfortable and dangerous to travel in TSRTC buses by

directly showing a TSRTC bus which was hired by Rapido for the commercial.

Upon being issued a notice by TSRTC, Rapido slightly modified the advertisement but continued to display the RTC bus. Since they refused to stop airing the advertisement, the TSRTC approached the court for relief.

The counsel for TSRTC said that while Rapido was entitled to promote its services, it cannot do so by making defamatory statements about TSRTC.

TSRTC MD VC Sajjanar appealed to the general public to strengthen RTC which is a State-run decades-old corporation serving the transportation needs of people. "It is our social asset and everyone should own it up as their own and help maintain its smooth functioning and not defame it in any manner," he added.