Online newsportal ordered to remove 14 articles on Bharat Biotech in Rs 100 crore defamation case

Written by MD Bureau Published On 2022-02-26T16:21:15+05:30 | Updated On 26 Feb 2022 4:21 PM IST

Online newsportal ordered to remove 14 articles on Bharat Biotech in Rs 100 crore defamation case

Telangana: The Telangana Court ordered the Delhi-based news portal The Wire to take down 14 articles from their portal which they published on Hyderabad's Bharat Biotech International Limited and their COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin. The order was passed by Ranga Reddy District Court Judge after Bharat Biotech filed ₹100-crore defamation case against the web news portal The Wire.

Appearing for Bharat Biotech International Limited , Senior counsel K Vivek Reddy argued that The Wire had published articles which contained "false allegations" against Bharat Biotech and Covaxin, the vaccine manufactured by the company, with "malicious intent to undermine the reputation of the company" reported the Hindustan Times.

The defamation suit was filed against The Wire, its publisher and non-government organization Foundation for Independent Journalism, the website's editors Venu, Vardarajan and Bhatia, and nine others who wrote the articles. The court after going through the argument directed the portal to take down the articles

"I am of the considered opinion that the petitioner has shown prima facie case and balance of convenience in favour of the petitioner and that if no injunction is granted and if an urgent notice is ordered, the very purpose of this suit as well as this application will be defeated. Hence, I am of the considered opinion that in order to avoid multiplicity of proceedings, this is a fit case to dispense with the issuance of prior notice before ordering ad-interim injunction directing the respondents from further publishing any defamatory articles regarding the petitioner and its product Covaxin. Hence, prior notice is dispensed with". the court said in the Order.

The move was strongly opposed by the team of the Wire, which are now going to challenge the matter in a higher court.

"So 14 deeply reported #Covaxin stories— published over a year—ordered to be taken down by a local AP court with no notice served on The Wire, no chance given for us to refute whatever false claims Bharat Biotech has made against us! Let me say this—BB's bullying will not work." the Wire's founding editor, Siddharth Varadarajan, tweeted.

"The Wire will, as a matter of course, legally challenge this order, which we have not seen yet. We have not been properly notified of any order, much less a certified copy of the same. Freedom of the press is guaranteed by the Constitution of India, Like the rest of the media in India, we have published dozens of articles on Bharat Biotech, going back to 2020, in exercise of this right and will resist any attempt to curb freedom of the press."The Wire said in its statement.

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Source : With Inputs

MD Bureau

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