SC restrains Gujarat HC from proceeding against The Wire, calls for responsible reporting by electronic media

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Gujarat High Court to not proceed with the criminal defamation lawsuit filed by businessman Jay Shah against news website The Wire. The matter relating to the quashing of the Shah-Wire case in the apex court will be heard on April 12, until which the Gujarat HC cannot proceed with the criminal defamation case.

While the order has brought relief to The Wire, the apex court asked the media and specifically electronic media to engage in “responsible journalism”. The judges said they respect freedom of the press but the media also has to act responsibly.

According to The Indian Express, Shah’s advocate NK Kaul pressed that The Wire‘s piece on Shah and his business’ growth was a “manufactured story, scurrilous reporting”. He added that it was done to damage Shah’s reputation and “the reporting was part of a design.”

According to reports, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra said he was against the idea of gagging the media. However, he added, “we expect the media should be responsible, electronic media should be more responsible.”

Objecting to Kaul’s statement, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who is representing the news website, said: “If journalism is going to be throttled like this, no journalist can ask questions.”

Meanwhile, The Wire’s editors took to Twitter to announce the apex court’s observations:

In October 2017, The Wire had published a story on Jay Shah, son of BJP chief Amit Shah. The story claimed that Jay Shah’s firm’s turnover increased 16,000 times after Narendra Modi was elected as Prime Minister and his father was appointed as BJP chief.

Shah filed a criminal defamation case of Rs 100 crore against the editors of the website and Rohini Singh – the journalist who did the story. The Wire moved the Gujarat High Court demanding quashing of the charges and later moved the apex court. The SC will now hear the matter on April 12.