Dhanteras usually means long queues at jewellery counters, but this year, however, Kerala-based Malabar Gold & Diamonds is fighting a surge of online anger and boycott calls after the brand was linked to a Pakistani influencer during its UK showroom launch.
Last September, London-based influencer Alishba Khalid's earlier comment calling India’s Operation Sindoor a “cowardly act” resurfaced after she was engaged to promote the new showroom in Birmingham. Netizens quickly labelled the company a "sympathiser of Pakistan,” and posts urging boycotts spread.
Malabar Gold went to court ahead of this festive season
Expecting a huge commercial harm during the peak festive season, Malabar Gold & Diamonds moved the Bombay High Court, asking for the removal of allegedly defamatory content on Facebook, Instagram, and Google. The company included a list of 442 URLs it said were damaging to sales, according to PTI, and sought an injunction to stop further posts.
Last month, a bench of Justice Sandeep Marne found “a case was made out for the grant of an ad-interim injunction” and ordered the deletion of posts that branded the firm a “sympathiser of Pakistan.” The court also directed social platforms to block the publication of any more allegedly defamatory material tied to Khalid’s appointment.
Notably, Malabar said promoter JAB Studios had sourced influencers for the Birmingham launch and that Khalid, a UK-based Pakistani national who had condemned the Pahalgam terror attack earlier this year, was engaged before those events.
The company stressed that her services had since been discontinued and argued that “mere utilisation of the services of a UK-based social media influencer at some point cannot be a reason for spreading defamatory content.”
