A Delhi court transferred appeals by Newslaundry and journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta against a gag order restraining reporting on Adani Enterprises to Judge Ashish Aggarwal. The move aims to avoid “any contradictory view” in the sensitive defamation case.
New Delhi: Digital news platform Newslaundry has approached a district court in Delhi challenging a recent gag order that had restrained it from publishing any alleged defamatory content against businessman Gautam Adani’s company, Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL).
The appeal was heard on Monday before District Judge Sunil Chaudhary. The judge observed that it would be appropriate for the case to be heard by District Judge Ashish Aggarwal, who had just last week lifted a similar gag order in connection with the same matter on an appeal filed by some journalists.
Counsel representing Adani opposed the transfer of the case to the same judge. However, Judge Chaudhary rejected the objection and clearly stated:
“Let matter be heard by the same judge. This is being done to avoid any contradictory view by this court. It is appropriate if the case is heard by the same judge.”
He then directed that the matter be listed on Tuesday at 10 AM before Judge Ashish Aggarwal.
A similar appeal by senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta was also shifted to Judge Aggarwal’s court.
The legal proceedings began with an order passed on September 6 by Senior Civil Judge Anuj Kumar Singh at the Rohini Court.
That order had directed the removal of allegedly defamatory material against AEL and restrained journalists from publishing any unverified or defamatory information about the company. This order triggered Newslaundry to move the district court in appeal.
Earlier, journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das, and Ayush Joshi had also filed appeals against the same gag order.
In one of those cases, Judge Ashish Aggarwal had already lifted the suspension order last week. Now, both Thakurta’s and Newslaundry’s appeals will be taken up by Judge Aggarwal on Tuesday.
The matter arises out of a defamation suit filed by Adani Enterprises before the civil court. AEL claimed that certain journalists, activists, and organizations had damaged the company’s reputation and caused huge financial losses by spreading false information that affected its image, brand value, and even the credibility of India as a nation.
According to the company, these individuals and groups had
“aligned with anti-India interests and have been continuously targeting Adani Enterprises’ infrastructure and energy projects which are critical to India’s infrastructure and energy security and have disrupted these projects with ulterior motives.”
Adani Enterprises cited several articles published on portals such as paranjoy.in, adaniwatch.org, and adanifiles.com.au.
The company alleged that these websites had been publishing defamatory content about the Adani Group, its founder and chairman Gautam Adani, and its business ventures repeatedly.
The civil court found that AEL had made a strong prima facie case and therefore granted an interim injunction in its favour. This order led to the appeals by the journalists as well as by Newslaundry.
Apart from the district court proceedings, Newslaundry had also last week moved the Delhi High Court against a separate order of the Central Government.
That government order had directed the takedown of certain videos and reports about Gautam Adani and Adani Enterprises. Importantly, the government’s takedown directive was issued as a direct consequence of the civil court’s gag order.
Newslaundry’s petition challenging the Central Government’s order is also scheduled to come up for hearing before the Delhi High Court today.
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