In a major victory for Industrialist Gautam Adani and Adani Enterprise Ltd, a Delhi Court on Saturday restricted several propagandists, including Paranjoy Guha Tharkurta, Ravi Nair and others, from publishing defamatory content against the industrialist and his business.
In an interim order, the court also directed the journalists and foreign-linked NGOs to remove the defamatory material against the firm from articles and social media posts.
Adani Enterprise Ltd had approached court to restrict the accused from publishing defamatory content, given that the Supreme Court had already ordered an investigation against Hindenburg after it was revealed that they had conducted a hitjob against Adani for the purpose of shortselling.
The accused in the case are Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskanta Das, Ayush Joshi, Bob Brown Foundation, Dreamscape Network International Private Limited, Getup Limited, Domain Directors Private Limited trading as Instra and John Doe persons.
Adani Enterprise told the court that publications on paranjoy.in, adaniwatch.org and adanifiles.com.au and other websites are defamatory in nature and are designed to tarnish the reputation of the firm and disrupt global operations.
The court said, “There is a prima facie case in favour of the plaintiff. Even the balance of convenience lies in the favour of the plaintiff, considering that continual forwarding/publishing/re-tweeting and trolling would further tarnish his image in public perception and may result in a media trial”. The court further said, “To the extent that the articles and posts are incorrect and unverified and prima facie defamatory, defendants nos 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 five days from the date of this order”.
The court has not only restrained the accused from posting defamatory content, but also from posting further content on the matter. The court has instructed that if the accused fail to comply with the order, Google, X, Youtube etc would are required to either delete or restrict access to the defamatory content.
The matter has been posted for further hearing on 9th of October 2025.
