The Supreme Court on Friday, November 3 granted interim protection to journalists Ravi Nair and Anand Mangnale from being arrested by the Gujarat police over a story they wrote on the Adani-Hindenburg row. The protection was granted to them by a bench of Justices BR Gavai and Prashant Kumar Mishra.
In January, US-based investment research firm Hindenburg published a report alleging that the Adani group engaged in stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme. In August, Ravi and Anand published a story titled ‘Documents Provide Fresh Insight Into Allegations of Stock Manipulation That Rocked India’s Powerful Adani Group’ as part of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). Following this, in October they received notices from the Ahmedabad crime branch asking them to appear for a preliminary inquiry. The journalists had filed writ petitions challenging the notices.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising, appearing for the journalists, argued that the notices were “completely without jurisdiction” and questioned the authority of the police in the matter. The counsel also informed the court that the petitioners were not informed about the legal provisions invoked to issue the notices and also asked if a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against them. She also added that when the journalists sought additional details, they were asked to appear for questioning and get the details.
“Is it a Section 41A notice? Is it a notice under Section 160? Do they stand in the character of the accused? Or are they witnesses? There’s no clarity,” Jaising contended, LiveLaw reported. She also asserted that this was “nothing but pure and simple harassment and a prelude to a possible arrest”.
The court, after the hearing, issued notices in both the pleas and also granted interim protection to the journalists.