Delhi High Court orders Wikipedia to take down page on ANI defamation suit
The Delhi High Court direction came after a division bench said it would hear Wikimedia Foundation on the merits of their case only after it takes down the page on ANI.
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The bench was hearing an appeal moved by WMF against a single-judge order of August 20 where it had directed the Foundation to disclose the details of four administrators in a defamation suit filed by Asian News International against WMF pertaining to edits made in its page on the news agency. (File)The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) to take down a page within 36 hours on Wikipedia which deals with the news agency ANI’s defamation suit against the Foundation while observing that the page is “prima facie contemptuous”.
The direction came after a division bench of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela made it clear that they would hear WMF on the merits of their case only after it takes down the page. WMF assured the court it will comply with court orders.
The bench was hearing an appeal moved by WMF against a single-judge order of August 20 where it had directed the Foundation to disclose the details of four administrators in a defamation suit filed by Asian News International against WMF pertaining to edits made in its page on the news agency.
WMF, through senior advocate Akhil Sibal, informed the court, “..Didn’t say I am not going to comply with court orders, or we are not subject to orders of this court, that’s why we are availing legal remedies…but to assume in advance that we are going to thumb our nose and not comply with orders, it is not a defiant attitude that we will not comply…the only point we wanted to make is, that according to us, this would be a dangerous precedent for all future suits, our concern is not for this particular suit”.
“Our concern is before a disclosure order is passed there should be some test…Our issue is not this particular content, issue is we don’t want this to be a Pandora’s box where a client files a suit and says first disclosure then merit…Everyone is following the matter, there is a robust public discussion because people believe there is a point of principle,” it said.
Taking strong objection to a page on the platform — ‘Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation’ — while the matter is sub judice before the court, the court recorded that the page terms the direction of a single judge to identity of editors who made the edits amounted to “censorship and a threat to the flow of information”.
“This court is of the view that the said description of the impugned order and the order of single judge is prima facie contemptuous and amount to interference in court proceedings…The sub judice principle prima facie seems to have been violated by the appellant/defendant (WMF)…This court is also informed that after the last hearing, the observations made by this court was opened for discussion on the appellant’s website which compounds the contempt.”
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