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Jay Shah defamation case: Gujarat High Court restores gag on The Wire, portal to move SC

Published

9 years ago

February 20, 2018

Jay Shah defamation case: Gujarat High Court restores gag on The Wire, portal to move SC

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday restored a gag order barring news portal The Wire to write further on the “exceptional” increase in Jay Shah’s firm’s turnover, said media reports.

The order was first issued after The Wire published a story in September 2017, which alleged that the turnover of a company owned by BJP President Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah had grown 16,000 times in a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power.

The order, issued in connection with a civil defamation case against the website, stops it from publishing any content “directly or indirectly” related to Jay Shah until the defamation case is disposed of.

Siddharth Vardarajan, the co-founding editor of The Wire, said they will challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court. “Going against several decades of jurisprudence, Gujarat High Court has restored gag order that trial court itself vacated after first granting Jay Amit Shah ex parte injunction against @thewire_in. We will challenge this verdict, which affects media freedom for all, in the Supreme Court,” Vardarajan said on Twitter.

The case pertains to the civil suit filed against the web portal through which Jay Shah has claimed a damage of Rs 100 crore. The Ahmedabad district court had granted an interim injunction against the portal, restraining it from further publishing anything on the same subject. In December 2017, the court lifted the injunction and ruled that barring the use of the words “Narendra Modi becoming prime minister/elected prime minister” in relation to any debate on the original article on Jay Shah, The Wire was free to publish content on his business and public activities.

Jay Shah had moved the High Court in December 2017 against the order of Ahmedabad district court. After the hearing in the case concluded on Jan 19, Justice Paresh Upadhyay reserved the verdict.

The lawyers appearing for The Wire had argued: “We stand by the article. Do we need to do the article threadbare … whether it is defamatory or not I stand by it and to succeed in interim injunction I don’t need to prove it. At this stage, the interim injunction prevents a public discourse because this article was written to agitate people to talk about it but not to create any chaos. The injunction simply prevents it.”

They argued that if the case was limited to a private person, then the comments could not be made but if he or she was connected with a public figure, business related to rise or fall will be commented upon by people.

Jay Shah’s lawyer, senior counsel Nirupam Nanavati, on the other hand, argued that the trial court had prima facie held that dragging Prime Minister in the write-up was not right. He argued: “Connecting my father’s position and Prime Minister so to tell the world that I (Jay) enhanced my business because of these connections can never said to be an honest opinion and the burden of proving that it is not defamatory is on respondents (portal). Assuming that whatever they collected from the record may be true but can you publish in this manner in the name of public interest? The language and the innuendo used don’t say their article is an honest opinion but only to malign me and my father and the Prime Minister. The trial court found that the PM was wrongly involved so the portal was restrained.”

Earlier, on Jan 8, the Gujarat High Court had also rejected the petition of the website The Wire seeking quashing of a criminal defamation case lodged against it by Jay Shah, son of BJP president Amit Shah.

The court held that there is a prima facie case against Wire’s reporter and editors. The court held that “the most disturbing part of the article”, which can be “prima facie termed as defamatory”, is linking the rise in Jay’s firm’s turnover with the election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister.

Justice JB Pardiwala said: “The most disturbing part of the article, or to put it in other words, the imputation which could be termed as prima facie defamatory is the averment that the turnover of the company owned by the complainant, who happens to be the son of the leader of the Bhartiya Janta Party increased 16,000 times over in the year following the election of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister and the elevation of his father to the post of the party president.”

The Wire had moved the High Court against the criminal defamation case filed by Jay before a metropolitan court, days after the website put up the article “The Golden Touch of Jay Amit Shah”, alleging that his company’s turnover grew exponentially after the BJP came to power in 2014. The Wire had said its report is based on documentary evidence and hence they cannot be tried for criminal defamation.

Saying that there is a prima facie case against the petitioner, Justice Pardiwala observed, “What is important is the strong innuendo that the complainant has prospered because of the fact that he happens to be the son of a very powerful political leader, and that too, at a point of time when Narendra Modi took over as the Prime Minister of the country.”

The judgment said, “…prima facie, the article tries to portray a picture that an ordinary company, which had a meagre revenue of Rs 50,000/- proceeded to accumulate the revenue of Rs 80,00,00,000/- [Rs 80 crore] in a single year…only because of the political position of the father of the complainant and at a time when Narendra Modi took over as the Prime Minister.”

Justice Pardiwala also raised the question about what the effect of such an article would be in the mind of a common man. He observed that “in a country like India, it does not take a second for the people in general to start thinking that the complainant has prospered only because of his political contacts. People may even infer corrupt practice at the end of the complainant. In such circumstances, the article published by the writ applicants, prima facie, could be termed as defamatory in nature.”

Justice Pardiwala had also refused to grant relief to founding editors of the website since there are “specific and clear allegations in the complaint that they are responsible for the defamatory matter and had the personal knowledge about the contents of the defamatory matter”.

The entire issue is likely to be taken to the Supreme Court by The Wire.

Related Topics:Amit Shah GUJARAT Gujarat High Court

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Newly appointed UP Congress chief Aradhana Mishra said the party would strengthen its alliance with the Samajwadi Party ahead of the 2027 Assembly election.

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44 mins ago

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Newly appointed Uttar Pradesh Congress president Aradhana Mishra, also known as Mona, has said the party will take its alliance with the Samajwadi Party forward with full strength ahead of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election.

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Speaking about Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Mishra described the SP as a strong partner of the Congress in the INDIA bloc.

“The Samajwadi Party is a partner of ours in the INDIA bloc, and a strong one at that,” she said, while praising the way Akhilesh Yadav has strengthened his party.

Aradhana Mishra backs Congress-SP alliance

Mishra referred to the performance of the INDIA bloc in the 2024 Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh while discussing the alliance’s prospects for the next assembly election.

The INDIA bloc won 43 of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 election, according to the report.

Mishra said the alliance had stopped the BJP’s advance in Uttar Pradesh in the 2024 Lok Sabha election and expressed confidence that the partnership would produce results in the 2027 Assembly election.

“We will take this alliance forward with full strength,” she said.

The new state Congress chief will also have to advance seat-sharing discussions with the Samajwadi Party. The report said Congress wants a larger share of seats, while the SP has not indicated a willingness to give ground, arguing that it is in a stronger position in the state.

Congress announces new UP team

The leadership change is part of a wider organisational reshuffle by the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.

Along with appointing Mishra as state Congress president, the party named Rajya Sabha MP Imran Masood as working president. Chaudhary Virendra Singh was appointed Leader of the Congress Legislature Party.

Devinder Nishad and Alok Prasad were also appointed senior vice presidents of the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee.

The new appointments bring different social groups into prominent positions in the state organisation. Mishra is a Brahmin, Masood is a Muslim and Rajendra Pal Gautam, the Congress’ AICC in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, is a Dalit, the report said.

Mishra, however, said the Congress does not practise caste or religion-based politics.

She said the party wanted to strengthen the country, protect the Constitution and build a strong alternative ahead of the 2027 election.

Mishra’s challenge ahead of 2027 polls

As the new Uttar Pradesh Congress chief, Mishra will be responsible for strengthening the party’s organisation in the state while also taking forward its alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

The Congress and SP are part of the INDIA bloc in Uttar Pradesh. With seat-sharing discussions ahead of the 2027 Assembly election, Mishra’s comments indicate that the Congress intends to continue working with the Samajwadi Party.

The appointment of Mishra comes alongside other organisational changes aimed at preparing the party for the upcoming assembly election.

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CJP announces October 10 Delhi protest against Gyanesh Kumar

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APNLive Desk

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leader Abhijeet Dipke has announced a fresh protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar on October 10, saying the demonstration will be held if Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar does not resign.

Dipke made the announcement after a CJP demonstration at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park. He called on people from across the country to join the proposed Delhi protest, describing it as a peaceful agitation.

Abhijeet Dipke’s October 10 protest call

In a post on X, Dipke said CJP supporters would march to Delhi and hold a protest at Jantar Mantar if Kumar did not step down. He also said that if Delhi Police stopped the protesters, the location where they were stopped would become their protest site.

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He also alleged that voters were deleted from constituencies in Delhi, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal and linked these alleged deletions to election results.

The CJP leader further criticised the proposed simultaneous elections framework, alleging that the ruling BJP’s objective was “One Nation, One Election, One Party”.

CJP demands Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation

CJP leaders have been demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and have also called for criminal proceedings against him.

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Protest at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park

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India News

MK Stalin attacks Vijay government over hindi signboard in Tamil Nadu

MK Stalin criticised the Tamil Nadu government over Hindi lettering on a State Highway signboard and warned the Vijay-led administration against interfering with the state’s two-language policy.

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APNLive Desk

The use of Hindi on a highway signboard in Tamil Nadu has triggered a political row, with DMK chief MK Stalin criticising the Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government over the issue.

The controversy centres on a State Highway signboard that displayed place names in Tamil, English and Hindi. The board was installed on the Alwarthirunagari-Valliyoor State Highway 93 route through Sathankulam in Thoothukudi district.

Stalin objected to the inclusion of Hindi, saying Tamil Nadu has long opposed what he described as attempts to impose Hindi and warning the state government against altering its established two-language policy.

He questioned whether the use of Hindi on the signboard represented the kind of change promised by the TVK government. Stalin also urged the administration not to interfere with Tamil Nadu’s language policy.

Hindi removed from signboard

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According to officials, the Assistant Divisional Engineer and Assistant Engineer associated with the project had failed to inform higher authorities about the inclusion of Hindi on the board.

The Tamil Nadu government has said that the use of Hindi on the State Highways Department signboard was against the state’s two-language policy and warned that strict action would be taken against officials violating the policy.

Stalin targets Vijay government

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His comments came amid a wider political debate in Tamil Nadu over the state’s established Tamil-English two-language policy and the use of Hindi in government-related signage.

The latest controversy has therefore brought the language policy issue back into focus, with the DMK questioning the TVK government’s handling of the Hindi signboard and the state administration taking action against the officials concerned.

MK Stalin has criticised the Vijay-led Tamil Nadu government over Hindi appearing on a State Highway signboard. The Hindi lettering was later removed, while two Highways Department officials were suspended and departmental action was initiated.