The Gujarat High Court has, for the time being, refused to stay the ex-parte order passed by a trial court judge in the defamation suit filed by Jay Shah against The Wire..The Single Judge Bench of Justice Paresh Upadhyay, however, issued notice to Jay Shah, returnable by November 16..The appeals, though not initially listed for hearing yesterday, were mentioned by Senior Advocates Dushyant Dave and Mihir Joshi, who are representing the Foundation for Independent Journalism and the reporters of The Wire..On the insistence of the senior counsel, the matters were taken up on board. Justice Upadhyay, however, was not inclined to grant relief, holding in his order passed yesterday,.“Any observation at this stage, even with regard to the sustainability of the impugned order may prejudice either of the parties, on the next date of hearing either before this court or the trial court and therefore the same is avoided. Suffice it to hold that, considering the totality, the request of the appellants that, the impugned order be stayed today itself, need not be accepted.”.The matter has its genesis in an article published by The Wire on October 8 alleging impropriety in the dealings of Jay Shah, son of BJP President Amit Shah. In reaction to the article, the younger Shah filed a defamation suit of Rs. 100 crore against the publication and its journalists on October 12..On that very day, BK Dasondi, 4th Additional Senior Civil Judge, Ahmedabad Rural, had passed an ex-parte order effectively preventing The Wire from publishing, in any form, media related to the article dated October 8..The publication then sought to file an appeal against the trial court order before the Gujarat High Court. The appeal has been drafted by Advocate Ashwath Sitaraman and settled by Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan. At the outset, it is mentioned in the appeals,.“So well empowered is the Opponent/Plaintiff to place his case in the public domain that Ministers of the Union Government have recently held press conferences in his favour and a Law Officer was given permission in advance to represent him legally, even before ‘The Article’ was published.”.It is also argued that the article in question does not fall under the scope of defamation..“Indeed, ‘the Article’ cannot be termed ‘defamation’ at all, and fair comment on verified facts is anyway protected from action. The Opponent/Plaintiff is clearly hard pressed to even state who thought ill of him as a result of “Article” for he specifies no names or details in this regard. Nor has he been able to point to a single factual error in ‘the report’. Every portion of the Article is justified by truth and it is evident to the reader that it can be so justified. There is no malice or animus on the part of the defendants. None is shown by the Opponent/Plaintiff, besides baldly alleging defamation…”.It also criticises the trial court judge’s non-application of mind in delivering the ex-parte order..“The impugned order of ad-interim ex-parte injunction flouts every principle of the law applicable before any restraint on the freedom of expression may be imposed. In fact, an injunction restraining free speech is permissible in only extreme and rare circumstances and only when the very onerous conditions set for such an injunction are met. From the impugned order, it does not appear that the contents or the basis for the Article has been noticed, much less scrutinized by the trial court…”.The appeals further quote several Supreme Court decisions which have given freedom of the press protection under Article 19 of the Constitution..On these grounds, the High Court has been requested to entertain the appeals, and to set aside the ex-parte order passed by the trial court judge. The matter will next come up for hearing on November 16..This is not the first time The Wire has had a run-in with a political figure. In March this year, the publication was forced to take down its articles on MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar..Read the order passed yesterday:.Read the petition:
The Gujarat High Court has, for the time being, refused to stay the ex-parte order passed by a trial court judge in the defamation suit filed by Jay Shah against The Wire..The Single Judge Bench of Justice Paresh Upadhyay, however, issued notice to Jay Shah, returnable by November 16..The appeals, though not initially listed for hearing yesterday, were mentioned by Senior Advocates Dushyant Dave and Mihir Joshi, who are representing the Foundation for Independent Journalism and the reporters of The Wire..On the insistence of the senior counsel, the matters were taken up on board. Justice Upadhyay, however, was not inclined to grant relief, holding in his order passed yesterday,.“Any observation at this stage, even with regard to the sustainability of the impugned order may prejudice either of the parties, on the next date of hearing either before this court or the trial court and therefore the same is avoided. Suffice it to hold that, considering the totality, the request of the appellants that, the impugned order be stayed today itself, need not be accepted.”.The matter has its genesis in an article published by The Wire on October 8 alleging impropriety in the dealings of Jay Shah, son of BJP President Amit Shah. In reaction to the article, the younger Shah filed a defamation suit of Rs. 100 crore against the publication and its journalists on October 12..On that very day, BK Dasondi, 4th Additional Senior Civil Judge, Ahmedabad Rural, had passed an ex-parte order effectively preventing The Wire from publishing, in any form, media related to the article dated October 8..The publication then sought to file an appeal against the trial court order before the Gujarat High Court. The appeal has been drafted by Advocate Ashwath Sitaraman and settled by Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan. At the outset, it is mentioned in the appeals,.“So well empowered is the Opponent/Plaintiff to place his case in the public domain that Ministers of the Union Government have recently held press conferences in his favour and a Law Officer was given permission in advance to represent him legally, even before ‘The Article’ was published.”.It is also argued that the article in question does not fall under the scope of defamation..“Indeed, ‘the Article’ cannot be termed ‘defamation’ at all, and fair comment on verified facts is anyway protected from action. The Opponent/Plaintiff is clearly hard pressed to even state who thought ill of him as a result of “Article” for he specifies no names or details in this regard. Nor has he been able to point to a single factual error in ‘the report’. Every portion of the Article is justified by truth and it is evident to the reader that it can be so justified. There is no malice or animus on the part of the defendants. None is shown by the Opponent/Plaintiff, besides baldly alleging defamation…”.It also criticises the trial court judge’s non-application of mind in delivering the ex-parte order..“The impugned order of ad-interim ex-parte injunction flouts every principle of the law applicable before any restraint on the freedom of expression may be imposed. In fact, an injunction restraining free speech is permissible in only extreme and rare circumstances and only when the very onerous conditions set for such an injunction are met. From the impugned order, it does not appear that the contents or the basis for the Article has been noticed, much less scrutinized by the trial court…”.The appeals further quote several Supreme Court decisions which have given freedom of the press protection under Article 19 of the Constitution..On these grounds, the High Court has been requested to entertain the appeals, and to set aside the ex-parte order passed by the trial court judge. The matter will next come up for hearing on November 16..This is not the first time The Wire has had a run-in with a political figure. In March this year, the publication was forced to take down its articles on MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar..Read the order passed yesterday:.Read the petition:
![Gujarat HC rejects stay (for now) on trial court order passed against The Wire [Read order and petitions]](http://media.assettype.com/barandbench%2Fimport%2F2016%2F09%2F20160909_153041-e1513935801166.jpg?w=480&auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max)
