A Delhi court on Saturday temporarily restrained five journalists and three websites from publishing allegedly defamatory material about industrialist Gautam Adani’s Adani Enterprises, Live Law reported.
The journalists are Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das and Ayush Joshi, and the websites are paranjoy.in, adaniwatch.org and adanifiles.com.au.
Special Civil Judge Anuj Kumar Singh of the Rohini Courts passed the injunction in favour of Adani Enterprises, directing the defendants to expunge the material from their articles and social media posts.
If expunging the content was not feasible, they must remove it within five days, the order said.
However, the court clarified that it was not issuing a blanket order restraining the defendants from “fair, verified and substantiated” reporting and from hosting, storing or circulating such articles, posts or webpage links, PTI reported.
The matter pertained to a defamation suit filed by Adani Enterprises alleging that journalists, activists and organisations had damaged the company’s reputation and cost its stakeholders billions of dollars, Bar and Bench reported.
Adani Enterprises is the flagship company of the Adani Group.
As per the court order, Adani Enterprises’ counsel argued that the journalists and activists had “aligned with anti-India interests” and were continuously targeting the firm’s infrastructure and energy projects with “ulterior motives”.
Adani Enterprises told the court that its operations in Australia “aimed at securing vital resources for India” were “strained and delayed and repeatedly hindered, pushing back development timelines due to the interference of such reporters, activists and organisations”, Bar and Bench reported.
While it was not clear which operations in Australia the company was referring to, the Adani Group-owned Carmichael coal mine in Queensland province had battled a seven-year campaign by climate activists before shipping its first cargo in December 2021.
Critics had raised concerns about the emissions and damage to the Great Barrier Reef due to the project, and sustained protests had allegedly scared off lenders, insurers and engineering firms.
In the Delhi court, the counsel for Adani Enterprises claimed that “defamatory actions” by the journalists and activists had also led to the straining of the conglomerate’s balance sheets and delayed key investment plans, Bar and Bench reported.
The efforts to tarnish the global reputation of the Adani Enterprises had repeatedly hindered its ability to raise funds, pushing back development timelines by years, the counsel added.
Adani Enterprises also referred to a report by American short-seller Hindenburg Research.
The activist short-selling firm had alleged in January 2023 that the Adani Group’s companies were on a “precarious financial footing” and had amassed substantial debt by pledging overvalued shares. It accused the group of accounting fraud and money laundering using offshore tax havens.
On Saturday, the court issued summons in the suit and said that Adani Enterprises had made a prima facie case for the grant of interim injunction, Live Law reported. Judge Singh added that if the reliefs sought by the company were denied, the firm would suffer further loss of reputation.
However, the judge said that the order did not “have a bearing on the merits of the matter and shall not be construed to restrain any person from reporting about investigation and court proceedings in relation to the allegations so long as it is fair and accurate reporting based on substantiated and verified material”.
The court listed the matter for further hearing on October 9.
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