Court halts alleged defamatory reports as Adani links journalists to anti-India interests

A Delhi court on Saturday passed an ex parte interim order restraining several journalists from publishing any defamatory content against Gautam Adani’s Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL), after the company sought relief claiming that the individuals were aligned with anti-India interests and had targeted its infrastructure and energy projects, which it said were critical to the country’s security.

The order was issued by Senior Civil Judge Anuj Kumar Singh of Rohini Court, and it covered journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das, Ayush Joshi, and others, while it also directed that allegedly defamatory content already available online be removed within five days if it could not be expunged.

The company had filed a defamation suit arguing that the journalists, activists, and organisations had damaged its reputation, inflicted heavy financial losses on stakeholders, and harmed India’s global image and brand credibility. It further contended that their reports had disrupted major projects, delayed Australian operations, strained balance sheets, and obstructed key investment plans.

AEL pointed to reports on websites such as paranjoy.in, adaniwatch.org, and adanifiles.com.au, accusing them of repeatedly publishing unverified allegations against the Adani Group and its founder Gautam Adani, while it also referred to the Hindenburg report, which suggested a potential 90% fall in stock value and raised concerns about the group’s debt, allegedly damaging its global standing.

After reviewing the material, the court held that AEL had established a prima facie case foran interim injunction, yet it balanced the relief with constitutional guarantees under Article 19(1)(a), clarifying that fair, verified, and substantiated reporting could not be restrained, and instead limited the prohibition to unverified, unsubstantiated, and ex-facie defamatory publications.

The court concluded that restraining defendants one to ten from publishing, distributing, or circulating such material until the next hearing would suffice in the interest of justice, and the proceedings saw Senior Advocate Jagdeep Sharma appear for AEL along with advocates Vijay Aggarwal, Guneet Sidhu, Verdaan Jain, Muskan Aggarwal, and Deepak Aggarwal.