New Delhi: Reckitt, the manufacturer of Dettol, has informed the Delhi High Court that it has reached a settlement with social media influencer Raj Shamani in a defamation lawsuit over allegedly disparaging remarks made about Dettol Antiseptic Liquid.
However, the company stated it will continue legal proceedings against dermatologist Dr. Manjot Marwah, whose comments in a podcast sparked the controversy.
According to a report by Bar and Bench, Reckitt Benckiser told the Delhi High Court on May 6, 2025, that “it has settled the dispute with influencer Raj Shamani. However, it will proceed against dermatologist Dr. Manjot Marwah over disparaging comments regarding Dettol made on a podcast.”
Reckitt said that after the last order, an undertaking was given that she would remove it. Since then, two reels have come up in which she is commenting on what happened in the court and on the same podcast again.
“I spoke with the counsel of Marwah, after which she removed it, but there is no guarantee that she would not do it again,” said Dettol.
The lawsuit, filed by Reckitt, accused Shamani, Marwah, and influencer Ritik Chaturvedi of making “false, misleading, disparaging, and defamatory” statements about Dettol in a podcast episode titled “Skin Mistakes You Didn’t Know! Tanning & Sunburn EXPOSED,” uploaded on April 1, 2025, and a subsequent Instagram reel captioned “Never Use Dettol on Your Skin,” posted on April 5.
The settlement with Shamani follows an earlier court hearing on April 8, where Shamani agreed to edit and remove a 90-second segment of the podcast referencing Dettol, which he claimed was part of an hour-long video.
The Delhi High Court, presided over by Justice Saurabh Banerjee, directed Shamani to complete the edits within 24 hours and restrained him from reuploading the original content. Marwah and Chaturvedi had also removed the related Instagram reel from their accounts as part of the settlement terms.
Reckitt’s legal team, led by Senior Advocate Chander M. Lall, argued that Dettol is a licensed antiseptic product, approved for skin use in India since 1936 and classified as a drug under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. Lall called Marwah’s claims—that Dettol is a floor cleaner unfit for skin and delays wound healing—“blatantly false and slanderous,” emphasising the product’s regulation and its definition as an antiseptic under the Indian Pharmacopoeia.
The company further alleged that the content, which garnered over 236,000 views on YouTube and 2.4 million views on Instagram, was designed to boost the podcast’s viewership and promote Marwah’s dermatology clinic, potentially at the behest of a competitor.
While the dispute with Shamani has been amicably resolved, Reckitt’s decision to proceed against Marwah indicates ongoing concerns about her statements. On May 1, Bar and Bench reported that both parties had signed a settlement application, with Advocate Nancy Roy, representing Reckitt, stating, “Both parties have signed the settlement application. We haven’t filed it yet. We request permission to file it today.” The court has directed the parties to file a formal compromise application under Order 23 Rule 3 of the Civil Procedure Code to finalise the settlement terms.
The matter remains pending for further hearing, with the court yet to formally close the case until the compromise application is reviewed.
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