Days after he was sent to jail on a non-bailable warrant, journalist Ravi Nair has been granted regular bail by a Gandhinagar court in the criminal defamation case filed by Adani Enterprises. The relief comes as his challenge to the arrest was pending before the Gujarat High Court, and after his plea for release was mentioned before the Supreme Court.
Gandhinagar: A Sessions Court in Gandhinagar has granted regular bail to journalist Ravi Nair, who was arrested after a non-bailable warrant (NBW) was issued against him in a criminal defamation case filed by Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL) [Ravi Nair v. Government of Gujarat and Another].
The matter was listed before Principal District and Sessions Judge Ashish J.S. Malhotra, and, as per the court’s records, the bail plea was allowed. Advocates Abhik Chimni, Pranjal Abrol, Prateek Rupala and Moksha Sharma appeared for Nair.
The background
Adani Enterprises had filed the criminal defamation case alleging that Nair published and disseminated a series of posts containing false and defamatory statements intended to damage the reputation of AEL and the Adani Group. On February 10, 2026, the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Mansa, convicted Nair of defamation and sentenced him to one year’s simple imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000; he appealed to the Sessions Court, which, on March 9, suspended the sentence and released him on bail pending the appeal.
On September 3, the appellate court declared Nair an absconder; on September 17, it rejected his plea to cancel the NBW and directed that he be sent to jail, pursuant to which he was taken into custody. He challenged the arrest before the Gujarat High Court, which, on Wednesday, reserved its verdict while declining interim relief, and his plea for release was also mentioned before the Supreme Court, which did not take it up on an urgent basis. The grant of regular bail by the Gandhinagar court now secures his release.
Why it matters
The grant of regular bail brings to a close, for now, the custody phase of a matter that had moved simultaneously across three forums, the trial and appellate courts in Gujarat, the Gujarat High Court and the Supreme Court, in the days after Nair’s arrest. His case had turned not on the merits of the defamation conviction, which is under appeal with the sentence suspended, but on the legality of arresting him on a non-bailable warrant in a bailable, non-heinous offence, and on whether his personal appearance was indispensable where his counsel was appearing.
The proceedings have drawn attention as part of a wider debate about the use of criminal defamation against journalists, and the concern that arrest and custody, even in a bailable case, can operate as a burden on reportage independent of the eventual outcome. Nair’s conviction has not attained finality; his appeal against it remains pending, and the bail now granted allows him to pursue that appeal from outside custody.
Nothing has been decided on the correctness of the conviction, on which this report expresses no view. The Gujarat High Court’s reserved verdict on the challenge to the NBW is still awaited, and the appeal against the conviction is yet to be heard on merits. What the Gandhinagar court’s order settles is the immediate question of liberty, securing Nair’s release on regular bail while those proceedings continue.
Case Title: Ravi Nair v. Government of Gujarat and Another [CRMA/S/1567/2026]
Court: Sessions Court, Gandhinagar (Principal District and Sessions Judge Ashish J.S. Malhotra)
Date: September 24, 2026
Appearances: Advocates Abhik Chimni, Pranjal Abrol, Prateek Rupala and Moksha Sharma for Nair.
Status: Regular bail granted. Conviction under appeal, sentence suspended; Gujarat HC’s verdict on the challenge to the non-bailable warrant reserved. Merits of the defamation case not decided.