New Delhi: District judge Sunil Chaudhary of Delhi's Rohini Court on Monday (September 22) transferred the appeals filed by journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta and digital news platform Newslaundry against the ex-parte gag order restraining reporting against Adani, to the judge who had earlier quashed that order qua four other journalists.

As a result, the appeals will now be first listed before district and sessions judge and following that will be posted before Judge Ashish Aggarwal tomorrow, reported LiveLaw.

On September 18, Judge Aggarwal had stayed the ex parte order restraining journalists Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das and Ayush Joshi from publishing stories ‘defaming’ Adani Enterprise Limited (AEL).

On the same day, Judge Chaudhary had reserved orders on Guha Thakurta's plea against the ex-parte gag order. However, Judge Aggarwal set aside the same order qua four other journalists in a separate case.

Following this, Judge Chaudhary transferred the matter.

“I am of the opinion that the [senior civil judge) ought to have made an opinion of the content. While articles and posts spanning a substantial period (2024-2025) were questioned by the plaintiff, the court did not deem it fit to grant an opportunity of hearing to the defendants. In my opinion that opportunity ought to have been granted before passing the order,” judge Aggarwal had said while setting aside the September 6 order.

The Rohini court had passed an ex parte interim order on September 6 directing a number of journalists and activists to remove articles and social media posts allegedly defaming AEL and to not publish such material against the firm till the next hearing.

Journalist bodies had expressed concern and disappointment over the ex parte order as well as the subsequent I&B ministry notice asking media houses and a number of YouTube channels to take down material that mentioned the Adani Group.

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