Arrests – Journalists | Lawfare, Defamation – Journalists

A magistrate court in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar on Tuesday convicted journalist Ravi Nair in a criminal defamation case filed by Adani Enterprises Limited about a series of posts on social media platform X, and sentenced him to imprisonment for one year, PTI reported on Tuesday.

The case pertained to a series of tweets posted by Nair from October 2020 to July 2021 about the Adani Group, including allegations by US short seller Hindenburg Research and a strike against the proposed privatisation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Nair, ANI reported.

Commenting on the verdict, the journalist made a reference to a poem by Faiz Ahmad Faiz and said: “Hum Dekhenge [We will see]”.

The case was based on a complaint filed by Adani Enterprises, the flagship company of industrialist Gautam Adani’s Adani Group, alleging that Nair published and disseminated a series of posts on the social media platform X containing false and defamatory statements intended to damage its reputation.

The company alleged that Nair’s posts did not amount to fair comment or legitimate criticism but were designed to undermine the credibility of the firm in the eyes of the public and investors.