The Court has allowed ANI to seek fresh injunction order with respect to specific content.
The Supreme Court on Thursday (April 17) set aside the injunction orders passed by the Delhi High Court for the removal of the “defamatory and false” content in the Wikipedia page about news agency ANI Media Pvt Ltd.A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan observed that the High Court’s direction “to remove all false, misleading and defamatory content” was “very broadly worded”…
The Supreme Court on Monday questioned the legality of a Delhi High Court order directing the removal of a Wikipedia page and other discussions on a defamation case filed by the Asian News Agency (ANI) against the organisation.
While hearing a plea filed by the Wikimedia Foundation, a two-judge bench of the apex court comprising Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan expressed concerns regarding the Delhi HC’s observation that the content in the Wikipedia page amounted to interference with ongoing court proceedings.
“We are concerned with the legality and validity of the directions issued by the High Court,” the bench remarked, reported Live Law.
“We can understand if there is a contempt, and contempt is proved pursuant to notice. Somebody wants to purge the contempt, so he removes that content. But to tell somebody to remove something because there is some criticism of what the Court has done, that may not be correct,” Justice Oka noted.
The court also issued a notice to the ANI, returnable on April 4.
While hearing the defamation plea filed by ANI, a division bench of the Delhi HC comprising Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela had directed the removal of a Wikipedia page titled “Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation.”
