ANI Defamation Suit: Delhi HC Closes Wikipedia's Appeal Following Consent Order, Allows It To Serve Summons To Users Who 'Edited' ANI Page

The Delhi High Court on Monday (November 11) closed an appeal filed by Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia platform, against a single judge bench's order directing it to disclose subscriber details of three individuals who edited Asian News International (ANI) Wikipedia page.

This was after both the parties entered into a consent order and resolved the matter.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said that the single judge is free to proceed ahead with ANI's defamation suit against Wikipedia, in accordance with law.

The bench also allowed Wikipedia to serve summons relating to ANI's defamation suit upon the individuals who edited the news agency's page.

Last month, Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal appearing for Wikipedia stated that he had instructions to amicably resolve the matter. Sibal is brief by Advocate Nikhil Narendran.

Sibal and Advocate Siddhant Kumar appearing for ANI exchanged their consent drafts with certain terms. The consent order was then accepted by both the parties with minor modifications from both sides.

“The appeal is disposed of with the consent of the parties….,” the Bench said, directing the advocates on record of both the parties to sign the order sheet tomorrow.

“The single judge is free to proceed ahead with the matter in accordance with law. The rights and contention of both the parties are left open,” the Bench added.

Earlier, the Court had directed Wikipedia to take down a page on the pending defamation proceedings before the single judge. After the same was done by Wikipedia, the bench closed a contempt plea moved by ANI.

The dispute arose after ANI filed defamation suit against Wikipedia over allegedly defamatory description of the news agency.

On August 20, Wikipedia was directed by the Court to disclose to ANI the subscriber details of the three individuals available with it within two weeks. ANI had then filed the contempt plea against Wikipedia alleging non compliance of the order in question.

ANI had sought to restrain Wikipedia from publishing allegedly defamatory content on the news agency's page on its platform. It has also sought removal of the content. ANI has further sought Rs. 2 crores as damages from Wikipedia.

Wikipedia's page says ANI "has been criticized for having served as a propaganda tool for the incumbent central government, distributing materials from a vast network of fake news websites, and misreporting events.”

In its suit against Wikimedia Foundation and its officials, ANI has said that the former has allegedly published palpably false and defamatory content with malicious intent of tarnishing the news agency's reputation and to discredit its goodwill.

Case Title: Wikimedia Foundation v. ANI & Ors.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 1220