Journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
A Delhi court on Thursday (September 25, 2025) lifted a gag order imposed on journalist Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, which prevented him from reporting on Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL). Earlier this month, a civil court had restrained Mr. Thakurta and several other journalists from publishing material against the company owned by businessman Gautam Adani.
District judge Sunil Chaudhary of the Rohini Court, in his order announced on Thursday evening, said that Mr. Thakurta would not be liable to follow the gag order till the senior civil judge hears him and passes a fresh order.
The court also directed the Senior Civil Judge, North-West, who had issued the gag order on September 6, to hear Mr. Thakurta and the other defendants at 2 p.m. on Friday, September 26.
“Needless to say that trial court while passing the fresh orders on the application under Order 39 Rule 1 and 2 CPC will consider the principles of law settled qua the grant of interim injunction. The appeal is disposed off accordingly and the appellant will not be liable to follow the order dated 06.09.2025 till fresh orders are passed by the court of Ld. Senior Civil Judge upon hearing him,” the Court said.
On September 6, Civil Judge Anuj Kumar had passed an ex parte injunction in a defamation case filed by AEL, restraining Mr. Thakurta, Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das, and Ayush Joshi from publishing “allegedly defamatory” material about the company. Apart from the journalists, the order was also issued against John Doe, or unknown, defendants.
The journalists and news portal Newslaundry challenged the order in two different courts. While Judge Ashish Aggarwal had set aside the gag order on Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, Ayaskant Das, and Ayush Joshi on September 18, Judge Sunil Chaudhary declined the plea for an urgent hearing filed by Mr. Thakurta and Newslaundry. On September 22, Judge Chaudhary said that it would be appropriate if the case were heard by Judge Aggarwal since the latter had already dealt with and passed orders in the case. However, this was declined by principal district and sessions judge Gurvinder Pal Singh on September 23.
Judge Chaudhary had concluded his hearing in Mr. Thakurta’s appeal earlier this week and the order was reserved on Wednesday, when the court had also issued a notice to AEL on Newslaundry‘s plea, noting that the news portal was not an aggrieved party since it was not one of the defendants named by AEL in its suit before the civil court.
Published – September 25, 2025 11:00 pm IST
