'Unsustainable': Delhi court quashes order for taking down articles against Adani enterprises

New Delhi: A Delhi court has set aside the civil court order asking four journalists to take down alleged defamatory content against Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL). The court said that the effect of the removal of the articles by an ad interim ex parte order was "sweeping" and it had the "effect of decreeing the suit itself without a trial".

After hearing the challenge to the civil judge's decision, district judge Ashish Aggarwal held that unless appellants were heard, the civil court could not have inferred that the journalists made "unverified, inaccurate and irresponsible statements". The court concluded that the civil court order was "not sustainable" and asked it to pass a fresh order once the appellants and AEL are heard.

The order came after journalists Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskanta Das, and Ayush Joshi, represented by advocate Vrinda Grover, appealed against the civil court's September 6 order, which had restrained them from publishing or circulating alleged unverified and defamatory content against AEL.

The court pointed out that by the civil judge's order, AEL had the liberty to broaden the scope of the suit by including articles that could be written in the future by other parties, even though they are not found to be libellous yet, reported PTI.

However, it was highlighted that only when the author of those articles defied any direction and was hauled up for contempt, that there could possibly be a judicial determination of whether the article was indeed defamatory.

The judge said that the civil court must have given a prior opportunity to the defendants to put forth their stance before passing such "far-reaching directions", especially when the articles and posts had been in the public domain for about a year. He pointed out that the articles cannot be restored and the damage cannot be undone if it is found later that they were not actually defamatory.

The judge stated that the order is "not sustainable" because the defendants were not allowed to be heard. He even noted how some provisions of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) were overlooked and that, as per the law, when passing an ex parte injunction order, an endeavour must be made to finally decide the application within 30 days.

However, the court clarified that there was no finding on the merits of the case, or on the point of whether the articles and posts in question were indeed defamatory.