New Delhi: In a significant relief to Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL), a Delhi court on Saturday passed an interim order restraining a group of journalists, activists, and foreign-linked organisations from publishing or circulating allegedly unverified and defamatory content against the company.
Senior Civil Judge Anuj Kumar Singh, while hearing a defamation suit filed by AEL, also directed the defendants to take down contentious material about the company already published on various platforms, including articles on websites and social media posts, within a stipulated period.
According to the suit, AEL alleged that coordinated defamatory publications on paranjoy.in, adaniwatch.org and adanifiles.com.au, along with related videos and posts, were deliberately designed to tarnish its reputation and disrupt its global business operations.
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.
“There is a prima facie case in favour of the plaintiff. 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 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 nos 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 five days from the date of this order,” the court said.
Appearing for AEL, 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 equally sacrosanct right to reputation, which forms part of Article 21 of the Constitution.
The injunction also restrained the defendants from making any further unverified or unsubstantiated statements about AEL 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 October 9.
