Lawfare – Defamation, Journalists

The Delhi High Court has stayed the trial court verdict that ordered Hindustan Times and its former reporter Neelesh Misra to pay Rs 40 lakh as damages to a businessman over an allegedly defamatory news article.

The single-judge Bench of Justice Mini Pushkarna passed the interim order on Thursday on a petition filed by Hindustan Times and Mishra against the judgment passed by the District Judge, South East District, Saket Courts, on June 6, 2025.

The High Court further issued notice to businessman Arun Kumar Gupta.

The matter pertained to an article titled ‘Get Smart, Email with Care,’ authored by Mishra and published by Hindustan Times (HT) in 2007. The petitioners contended that the purpose of the article was to make the public aware about the misuse of electronic communications, such as email.

The article, however, also mentioned an allegation about a former employee of a company called Integrix, claiming that he was sacked from the company over alleged ‘financial irregularities’.

Gupta sued the newspaper* and Mishra over this aspect of the article, arguing that such a reference to him was defamatory. Gupta had joined Integrix as Director in 2000 and resigned in July 2005 to start his own company. In March and April 2006, Integrix filed two suits over a defamatory email and hacking of its website. Following the orders of the Delhi High Court, it was later revealed that the IP address linked to the email and hacking could be traced to Gupta.

*FSC Note: The exact date of filing cannot be confirmed.