New Delhi, September 25 — A Delhi district court ruled on Thursday that journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta is not bound by an ex-parte gag order restraining him from reporting on the Adani Group, suspending the directive until a lower court re-hears the matter on September 26, according to details received by The Chenab Times.
District Judge Sunil Chaudhary of Rohini Courts directed the Senior Civil Judge, North-West, to hear Thakurta’s appeal alongside other defendants at 2:00 p.m. on September 26, emphasizing principles for granting interim injunctions under Order 39 Rules 1 and 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. “The appeal is disposed off accordingly and the appellant will not be liable to follow the order dated 06.09.2025 till fresh orders are passed by the Court of Ld. Senior Civil Judge upon hearing him,” the court stated, as reported by LiveLaw.
The order follows Adani Enterprises’ defamation suit filed in September, alleging Thakurta and others published unverified, defamatory content on sites like paranjoy.in and adanifiles.com.au, damaging the company’s reputation and India’s energy security. A Senior Civil Judge issued the ex-parte injunction on September 6, ordering content removal and restraining further publications, which led to takedown notices from YouTube and government authorities.
Thakurta, represented by Advocates Apar Gupta, Indumugi C. and Naman Kumar, challenged the order, arguing coercive steps had already been taken, including article removals. Senior Advocate Jagdeep K. Sharma, for Adani Enterprises, contended the injunction was not quashed on merits and urged Thakurta to appear before the civil judge, assuring no coercion until September 26. Earlier, Judge Chaudhary recused post-hearing due to District Judge Ashish Aggarwal’s quashing of the order for four other journalists, but the Principal District Judge refused transfer, returning it to Chaudhary.
Similar relief was granted to journalists Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das and Ayush Joshi, with the court noting the content’s long public availability warranted a hearing before takedowns. The Editors Guild expressed concerns over the original order’s impact on free speech. No further updates from Adani Enterprises or the trial court were available at the time of reporting.
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The Chenab Times News Desk
