Journalist Ravi Nair was granted bail on Friday in a criminal defamation case filed by Adani Enterprises Limited over a series of posts on social media platform X, The Indian Express reported.
A magisterial court in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar also suspended for a month the one-year prison sentence awarded to him.
The court had convicted Nair on Tuesday and sentenced him to one year of imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 5,000.
The suspension of the sentence allows him to file an appeal before a sessions court within a month.
The case pertained to a series of social media posts by Nair from October 2020 to July 2021 about the Adani Group, including allegations by United States short seller Hindenburg Research and a strike against the proposed privatisation of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust.
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.
On Tuesday, the court held that the offence of defamation had been proved. It had also noted that the matter was triable as a summons case and therefore did not require a separate hearing on punishment.
The magistrate had said that Nair, as a journalist and public commentator, was expected to be conscious of the reach and impact of the statements made on digital platforms, especially when making categorical allegations that could affect reputations.
The court had also refused to extend the benefit of probation, adding that the journalist was a mature individual aware of the consequences of his actions. The judge had added that granting probation in such cases would dilute the deterrent effect of the law and send a wrong message in cases involving reputational harm.
A simple imprisonment along with a financial penalty would adequately reflect the seriousness of the offence without being excessively harsh, the court had held.
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