‘Error, look into facts’: SC sets aside Delhi HC’s takedown order to Bloomberg on Zee report

Days after the Delhi High Court directed media outlet Bloomberg to take down its “defamatory article” on alleged irregularities at Zee Entertainment, the Supreme Court has stayed the order, saying the court made an “perpetuated an error” and needed to “look into facts”, Livelaw reported.

In its March 14 verdict, the Delhi HC had upheld the trial court’s order and granted three days’ time to Bloomberg to comply. The publication, however, had told the court that the order was without reason and without a prima facie case.

The article in question, headlined ‘India regulator uncovers $241 million accounting issue at Zee’, was published on February 21 this year. It said market regulator SEBI had found irregularities to the tune of 241 million US dollars at Zee Entertainment. 

Putting aside the takedown order, the bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said the high court should have assessed if the “three-fold test” was established “after an evaluation of facts” and that it had “perpetuated the same error” which was made by the trial judge.     

The top court bench said, “The threefold test cannot be recorded as a mantra without looking into the facts on the basis of which the injunction is sought.” 

The granting of pre-trial injunctions against publication of an article “may have severe ramifications on the right to freedom of speech of the author and the public’s right to know,” said the Supreme Court, urging trial courts to be cautious.

“An injunction, particularly ex-parte, should not be granted without establishing that the content sought to be restricted is ‘malicious’ or ‘palpably false’...The grant of an interim injunction, before the trial commences, often acts as a ‘death sentence’ to the material sought to be published, well before the allegations have been proven,” said the court.

The top court also noted that courts and statutes have “increasingly recognised” SLAPP suits – litigation by entities with immense economic power against members of the media or civil society to prevent the public from knowing about or participating in public-interest affairs.

Notably, besides the defamation case against Bloomberg, Zee had also sued its journalists Anto Antony, Saikat Das and Preeti Singh. It claimed that the report contained false and misleading information, and resulted in a 15 percent drop in its share price.

Newslaundry had reported earlier that the broadcasting ministry had asked digital media outlet Caravan to takedown its report on alleged custodial deaths in Jammu and Kashmir. Read here.  

Update at 12:30 pm on March 26, 2024: Additional observations made by the Supreme Court added to the report.