NEW DELHI — A Delhi court on Thursday quashed an ex-parte order passed on September 6 by the Rohini District Court, which had restrained publications deemed defamatory about the Adani Group, according to details received by The Chenab Times.
District Judge Ashish Aggarwal overturned the order on an appeal by journalists Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das, and Ayush Joshi, ruling that the civil judge should have heard the defendants before directing the removal of articles that had been in the public domain for a long time, Live Law reported. “The civil judge ought to have granted that opportunity before passing an order which had the impact of prima facie declaring articles as defamatory,” Aggarwal said, noting that reversing such removals would be unfeasible if later deemed non-defamatory.
The judge set aside the order without commenting on the case’s merits, while another judge, Sunil Chaudhary, reserved verdict on journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta’s similar appeal, to be heard again on September 22, 2025. Thakurta welcomed the relief granted to his co-defendants in a statement at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, expressing gratitude to his legal team—Vrinda Grover, Trideep Pais, Apar Gupta, Nakul Gandhi, Naman Basoya, Indumugi C, Mujeeb Rahman, and Tanish Gupta—and supporters, vowing to continue the fight.
Advocate Vrinda Grover argued that most impugned publications dated back to June 2024, questioning the delay and lack of emergent circumstances for the ex-parte injunction. She challenged the court’s reasoning on unverified content, citing sources like the Kenyan government and a Swiss judgment, and criticized the “blanket” John Doe order leading to mass takedowns as a violation of press freedom.
Adani Enterprises’ counsel Vijay Aggarwal defended the urgency, citing a recent August podcast, alleging a malicious campaign by the journalists, some under NIA probe for Chinese funding, and referencing the Supreme Court’s clearance of the Hindenburg report. He suggested the journalists use Order 39 Rule 4 of CPC to vacate the injunction. Grover countered that Gautam Adani, not before the court, undermined the company’s locus to sue on his behalf.
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