Delhi News Live Updates: Court quashes Adani gag order against journalists, calls it ‘not sustainable’

Get your umbrellas out, it's raining in Delhi!

IMD has forecast moderate rain with thunderstorm and lightning for the day, especially in parts of South Delhi. Temperature in the city is forecast to be around 33-35°C (max) and 25°C (min).

Meanwhile, polling is underway at Delhi University colleges.

Our reporter on the ground says that NSUI has alleged that ABVP is manipulating EVMs in the Delhi University elections by marking blue ink in front of its candidates’ names to sway voters. The student wing said DU administration is “colluding” with ABVP and demanded urgent intervention by election authorities. NSUI’s presidential candidate Joslyn Nandita Choudhary called it "an attack on free and fair student democracy."

The incident took place at Hansraj college where Choudhary went for an EVM check and alleged that she found blue ink marks found right next to the ABVP candidates name on the EVM. College authorities said they're looking into the matter.

The September 6 court order said: “… at this stage, instead of issuing a blanket order on restraining defendants No. 1 to 9 from fair, verified and substantiated reporting and from hosting, storing/ circulating such articles/ posts/ URLs, it would suffice the interest of justice to restrain defendants No. 1 to 10 from publishing/ distributing/ circulating unverified, unsubstantiated and ex-facie defamatory reports about the plaintiff (Adani Enterprises Limited) allegedly tarnishing the reputation of the plaintiff till the next date of hearing.”

“To the extent that the articles and posts are incorrect and unverified and prima facie defamatory, defendants No. 1 to 10 are also directed to expunge such defamatory material from their respective articles/social media posts/tweets and if the same is not feasible, remove the same within 5 days from date of this order,” Judge Anuj Kumar Singh of Rohini court had said while passing an ex-parte ad-interim injunction in favour of AEL.

Showing the Bloomberg judgement, Trideep Pais, says the learned judge should have mentioned what part of the articles were defamatory. "Has he verified everything, why is he only indicating," asks the judge.

Pais says, "He has the material. My grievance is that the court didn't point to what was prima facie defamatory."

The judge asks if he's making a claim, why isn't he making it public?, to which Pais says he wasn't sent a legal notice.

"The article is very general. You claimed that the government is changing its order at the behest of Adani - but which order? Till a legal notice is sent to you, you'll publish whatever you want?, asks the judge.

Senior advocate Ahluwalia says, "Our agony is the buck doesn't stop here. Time and time again articles are written to tarnish the reputation. Had they been a fair journalist, they would have cited evidence and said we've spoken to the following people. Should I wait for shares to fall? I have proof to show that Guha gets chinese funding."

The judge says, "If you were defamed, then you should have specified the quantum of the damages."

Senior Advocate Anurag Ahluwalia appearing for AEL says, "I just want to show four paras from the order. We got a clean chit from the SC in the Hindenburg case."

The judge asked AEL to list out the observations in the case pertaining to Thakurta. Ahluwalia mentions an article titled "Adani's controversial footprint in India's neighbourhood".

Test of defamation can't be whether they've been found guilty or not, says Trideep Pais.

"There is no reasoning as to how a prima facie case was made out. It (the order) doesn't say in what manner irreparable injury can be caused to the plaintiff (AEL). As per the order, the plaintiff has been turned into a judge. He will decide what is unverified. Plaintiff can write to Google saying please remove this, as per the order. Based on this order, the plaintiff can have everything removed from the net. Any intermediary can be informed of any link by AEL and then they'll have to take it down," he added.

Calling this development ‘troubling’, the Editors Guild of India voiced “deep concern” over the order of a Delhi court that restrained nine journalists, activists and entities from publishing or circulating “unverified, unsubstantiated and ex facie defamatory” reports about AEL, and directed the removal of such content within five days.

“More disturbingly, the order further empowers the corporate entity to keep forwarding URLs and links of any content it considers defamatory to intermediaries or government agencies, who are then obliged to remove such content within 36 hours,” the Guild said in a statement.

Journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta's challenge to an order passed by a Delhi court on September 6, which restrained him and others from publishing alleged defamatory content on Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) and directed them to remove unverified posts is being heard.