Supreme Court grants interim relief to Financial Times journalists summoned by Gujarat Police over article on Adani

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Gujarat Police not to take any coercive action against two Financial Times journalists summoned over an article on the Adani Group. [Benjamin Nicholas Brooke Parkin and Anr vs State of Gujarat and Anr].Notably, those summoned, Benjamin Parkin and Chloe Cornish, did not write the article in question. .A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra has sought the response of the Gujarat Police in the matter and ordered that no coercive action be taken against the journalists till the next date of hearing..During the proceedings, the Court questioned why the two journalists had moved the Supreme Court for relief, instead of first approaching the High Court. "This is going to become difficult, if everyone comes here," the Court orally observed. .Appearing for the journalists, Senior Advocate Siddharth Agarwal clarified that neither Parkin nor Cornish were the authors of the article and that they did not reside in Gujarat. Agarwal further explained that the decision to approach the Supreme Court was made to avoid filing separate petitions in two different High Courts, that of Delhi and Gujarat.Agarwal added that the two journalists were summoned from Delhi to Gujarat for a preliminary inquiry within a short span of seven days. Additionally, he highlighted that the article in question was similar to another article (which had alleged stock manipulation by the Adani group) published by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Notably, two authors who wrote the OCCRP article were granted interim relief by the Supreme Court last week..Supreme Court grants interim relief to two journalists summoned by Gujarat Police over article on Adani group.The Court eventually issued notice and granted interim relief to the FT journalists as well. However, it emphasized that Parkin and Cornish were expected to cooperate with the preliminary inquiry..Parkin and Cornish were represented by Senior Advocate Siddharth Agarwal, along with advocates Ashima Obhan and Yogita Rathore (of Obhan and Associates), as well as Advocate-on-Record (AoR) Sonakshi Malhan..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.