Delhi Court Restrains Reporters From Publishing Defamatory Content Against Adani Enterprises

A Delhi court on Saturday restrained certain journalists and others from publishing unverified defamatory content against Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL). In an interim order, the District court also directed the journalists and foreign-linked NGOs to remove alleged defamatory material against the company from articles and social media posts.

A senior civil judge was hearing a suit filed by the plaintiff (AEL), alleging that coordinated defamatory publications on paranjoy.in, adaniwatch.org and adanifiles.com.au, along with related posts and videos, were designed to tarnish the business group's reputation and disrupt its global operations.

Appearing for Adani Enterprises, Advocate Vijay Aggarwal argued that unchecked dissemination of baseless allegations had not only tarnished the company’s reputation but also caused incalculable damage to investors and India’s global brand image. He stressed that the right to free speech cannot be exercised in a manner that tramples upon the right to reputation, which forms part of Article 21 of the Constitution.

Agarwal also argued that reputation of one cannot be allowed to be crucified at the altar of the other's right of free speech and that the balance between the two rights needs to be struck and that the reputation being an inherent component of Article 21 of the Constitution, it should not be allowed to be sullied only because another individual can have its freedom.

The defendants in the case are Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskanta Das, Ayush Joshi, Bob Brown Foundation, Dreamscape Network International Private Limited, Getup Limited, Domain Directors Private Limited trading as Instra and John Doe persons.

"Even the balance of convenience lies in the favour of the plaintiff, considering that continual forwarding/publishing/re-tweeting and trolling would further tarnish his image in public perception and may result in a media trial," the Delhi court said.

It then restrained the defendants from publishing, distributing or circulating unverified, unsubstantiated and ex-facie defamatory reports about the plaintiff, allegedly tarnishing its reputation, till the next date of hearing.

"To the extent that the articles and posts are incorrect and unverified and prima facie defamatory, defendants 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 five days from the date of this order," the court said.

The injunction also restrained the defendants from making any further unverified or unsubstantiated statements about Adani Enterprises - the flagship company of the Adani Group, and allowed the company to notify additional links for takedown.

In case they failed to do so, the court directed intermediaries like Google, YouTube, X etc. to remove or disable access to the alleged defamatory material within 36 hours. The court posted the matter for further proceedings on Oct. 9.

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