The Editors Guild of India has expressed concern over a Delhi court order restraining journalists from publishing defamatory reports about Adani Enterprises, and the Centre’s move directing the removal of related online content.
The guild said such actions were “a step towards censorship” and risked undermining press freedom. “They risk chilling legitimate reporting, commentary, and satire, and undermine the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.
On September 6, Special Civil Judge Anuj Kumar Singh of Rohini Courts passed an ex parte injunction in favour of Adani Enterprises. The order restrained journalists Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das, and Ayush Joshi, along with the websites paranjoy.in, adaniwatch.org and adanifiles.com.au, from publishing defamatory material.
An ex parte order is one issued without hearing the opposing side.
The court clarified it was not imposing a blanket ban. It said reporting that was “fair, verified, and substantiated” would not be affected.
The case stemmed from a defamation suit filed by Adani Enterprises, which alleged that journalists, activists, and organisations had harmed the company’s reputation and caused losses worth billions of dollars to stakeholders. The court directed the defendants to expunge the defamatory material from articles and posts. If this was not possible, the content had to be removed within five days.
Following this, on September 16, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued an order to direct 12 news outlets and independent journalists to remove content about the Adani Group. The takedown order covered 138 YouTube links and 83 Instagram posts. Copies of the notice were also sent to Meta and Google, which own Instagram and YouTube.
Among those who received takedown notices were Newslaundry, The Wire, HW News, journalists Ajit Anjum, Ravish Kumar, and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, satirist Akash Banerjee, and content creator Dhruv Rathee. Apart from Guha Thakurta, none of the others were party to the court proceedings.
The Editors Guild said it was “equally troubling” that the government acted on the order to demand takedowns. It warned that the “extension of executive power” effectively gave a private corporation the authority to decide what was defamatory about its affairs.
The organisation urged the judiciary to ensure defamation disputes were resolved through due process. It cautioned against “one-sided injunctions that amount to prior restraint.”