Supreme Court sets aside Delhi HC’s takedown order in ANI-Wikipedia case
The High Court’s April 2 directive to Wikimedia Foundation was too ‘broadly worded’ to be ‘specifically implemented’, the Supreme Court said.
The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside a Delhi High Court order from April 2 directing Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the free online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, to remove allegedly defamatory content about Asian News International from its page, Bar and Bench reported.
A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said the High Court’s order was “very broadly worded”, Live Law reported.
“Such a broad interim relief is not capable of being specifically implemented,” Bar and Bench quoted the bench as saying. “The reason is that there is no clarity on the issue on who will decide whether the contents are false, misleading and defamatory.”
However, the bench granted liberty to ANI to move the High Court again for interim relief in the case.
The Supreme Court was hearing Wikimedia Foundation’s appeal against the single-judge order, given by Justice Subramonium Prasad.
The plea was part of a Rs 2 crore defamation suit filed by the news agency. The suit concerns a page about ANI that says that the news agency has been criticised for serving as a “propaganda tool” for the current Union government.
ANI, in its suit, alleged that Wikimedia Foundation published false and defamatory content with malicious intent to tarnish the news agency’s reputation.
Prasad, in his order, said that the ANI page violated Wikipedia’s policy and added that the content was not neutral. He added that it was written based on “editorials and opinionated pages”.
On April 8, another division bench of the Delhi High Court refused to stay the April 2 order.
At the hearing in the Supreme Court on Thursday, the bench said that an injunction should be granted in such a manner that it was capable of being implemented, Bar and Bench reported.
Noting a lack of clarity in the April 2 order, the Supreme Court asked: “Who will decide which is false, which is defamatory?”
ANI should move a fresh application before the single-judge with a petition against specific content, it added.
“The problem is you don’t pray for proper relief before the single judge,” Bar and Bench quoted the Supreme Court as telling the counsel representing ANI. “Let both the orders go. Pray for fresh interim relief. Confine yourself to specific portions that they have put on their website.”
