A Delhi court on Saturday passed an ex parte interim order restraining journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das, Ayush Joshi and others from publishing defamatory material against businessman Gautam Adani’s Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) [Adani Enterprises Ltd v Paranjoy Guha Thakurta & Ors].
Senior Civil Judge Anuj Kumar Singh of the Rohini Court ordered the removal of defamatory content circulating online.
“To the extent that the articles and posts are incorrect and unverified and prima facie defamatory, defendants no. 1 to 10 are also directed to expunge such defamatory material from their respective articles/social media posts/tweets and if the same is not feasible, remove the same within 5 days from date of this order,” the Court ordered.
Adani Enterprises filed a defamation suit alleging that certain journalists, activists and organisations have damaged the company's reputation and cost its stakeholders billions of dollars, causing massive loss to the image, brand equity and credibility of India’s brand as a country.
According to the Court order, Adani Enterprises argued that these journalists and activists have “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”.
“It is further stated that Adani’s Australian operations aimed at securing vital resources for India were got strained and delayed and repeatedly hindered, pushing back development timelines due to the interference of such reporters, activists and organizations and which defamatory actions of theirs also led to the straining of the balance sheets of the Adani Group and delayed key investment plans,” AEL told the Court.
The efforts to tarnish the global reputation of the AEL have repeatedly hindered its ability to raise funds, pushing back development timelines by years, Adani Enterprises said while referring to the Hindenburg report, which suggested a potential 90% decline in the Adani stock value and raised concerns about the company’s debt.
AEL referred to the articles published on paranjoy.in, adaniwatch.org and adanifiles.com.au and said that these websites have repeatedly published defamatory content against the company, the Adani Group, as well as its founder and chairman Gautam Adani.
After considering the case, the Court ruled that AEL had made a prima facie case for grant of interim injunction.
However, it said that it is also conscious of the sacrosanct principle of freedom of speech guaranteed under the Constitution of India and enshrined in Article 19 (1) (a).
“… at this stage, instead of issuing a blanket order on restraining defendants no. 1 to 9 from fair, verified and substantiated reporting and from hosting, storing/circulating such articles /posts/URLs, it would suffice the interest of justice to restrain defendants no. 1 to 10 from publishing/ distributing/ circulating unverified, unsubstantiated and ex-facie defamatory reports about the plaintiff allegedly tarnishing the reputation of the plaintiff till the next date of hearing,” the Court said.
Senior Advocate Jagdeep Sharma along with advocates Vijay Aggarwal, Guneet Sidhu, Verdaan Jain, Muskan Aggarwal and Deepak Aggarwal appeared for Adani Enterprises Limited.
[Read Order]