A Day After the MIB’s Mass Takedown Notice, Rohini Court Reversed Gag Order in Adani Case

Key Points:

Rohini court heard two separate appeals on 18 September 2025 against an earlier injunction passed by the court restricting journalists from publishing content critical of Adani Enterprises Ltd. (AEL).

The first appeal was submitted by senior journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, who was directly named in the gag order. District judge Sunil Chaudhary heard the plea and reserved his order pending rejoinder arguments.

The second appeal was submitted by Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das and Ayush Joshi, four journalists who were not directly named in the earlier order but were forced to comply. Their plea was heard by district judge Ashish Aggarwal, who reversed the earlier order.

DJ Ashish Aggarwal said, “The trial court should have decided the prayers made by plaintiff after giving hearing opportunity to the defendants. The impugned order is not sustainable. Accordingly, I allow the appeal and set aside the impugned order without any finding on merits of the case.”

This is the latest hearing in a defamation case filed by Adani Enterprises Ltd. against Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and others.

See Also: US charges Indian Billionaire Gautam Adani with Fraud, Conspiracy

On September 6, senior civil judge Anuj Kumar Singh of Rohini Court had issued an ex-parte injunction ordering the removal of content ‘defamatory’ to AEL and halting the publishing of any further content. The order was passed on the grounds that a prima facie case could be made out for the content being ‘defamatory’, siding with the AEL argument that it had damaged the company’s image, interfered with ongoing projects, and affected its market value.

The four journalists who submitted the second appeal were also mentioned in the notice. Their counsel, senior advocate Vrinda Grover, argued against the injunction, saying it is “not the court expressing its mind. It [is] the reproduction of the plaintiff’s averments and pleadings,” referencing the fact that the court had issued a ‘John Doe’ order. This means that the court’s directive applied not only to the defendants mentioned but anyone who might violate the order. The court had further allowed AEL to submit links of any content that it felt was harmful to its interest to be taken down.

The reversal comes a day after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) issued a mass takedown notice to a number of journalists, political commentators and news outlets, directing them to remove 183 videos and 83 posts referencing Adani. Many of those named in the notice, including Ravish Kumar, Akash Banerjee, and Dhruv Rathee among others, took to social media to voice their grievances against the directive. [Rh/DS]

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