New Delhi: Additional District Judge Sunil Chaudhary of Delhi’s Rohini Court has stayed a senior civil judge’s order prohibiting reporting on Adani. Judge Sunil Chaudhary stated that the stay will remain in effect until a new order is issued by the senior civil judge. Judge Sunil Chaudhary issued this order on Thakurta’s petition filed by independent journalist Pranjay Guha Thakurta.
Judge Sunil Chaudhary had reserved his decision on Thakurta’s petition on September 24th. During the hearing, lawyers representing Adani Enterprises stated that they would not take any preventive action against the September 6th civil judge’s order if both parties agreed. Advocate Apar Gupta, representing Pranjay Guha Thakurta, argued that this would not help in reprinting his article published in several media outlets. He argued that lawyer Trideep Paes had already presented arguments on the issue, and therefore, the court should issue an order on it.
“The order to delete the video was not appropriate”: On September 18th, Additional District Judge Ashish Aggarwal, while hearing a petition filed by four journalists, stayed a senior civil judge’s order prohibiting reporting on Adani. Judge Ashish Aggarwal stated in his order that the order to delete news articles and videos without hearing the journalists’ respective sides was not appropriate.
Lawyers for YouTube journalists: During the hearing, lawyers Vrinda Grover and Nakul Gandhi, representing the YouTube journalists, argued that a unilateral restraining order was obtained regarding the June 2024 article. What was the urgency? Why wasn’t even two or three days’ notice given? The senior civil judge should have heard the petitioners’ side as well. They argued that the company running the country’s largest media house is claiming it is in crisis due to these reports. Due to the senior civil judge’s order, YouTube has been ordered to delete several videos. Vrinda Grover stated that Adani Enterprises is a company, and the article talks about an individual. The article does not mention Adani Enterprises.
On September 6th, Senior Civil Judge Anuj Kumar Singh ordered the deletion of all reports and videos related to Adani. Subsequently, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting sent notices to all relevant journalists, asking them to delete the YouTube videos. Following the Senior Civil Judge’s order, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting directed the removal of Adani-related videos from prominent YouTube channels, including News Laundry, Abhisar Sharma, Dhruv Rathee, Ravish Kumar Official, The Deshbhakt, Deepak Sharma, Pragya Ka Panna, Ajit Anjum, HW News English, and Pranjay Online.
