'Prima Facie Contemptuous': Delhi High Court Orders Take Down Of Wikipedia Page On Pending Defamation Suit By ANI

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday ordered take down of a page on Wikipedia on the pending proceedings about a Rs. 2 crores defamation suit filed by news agency Asian News International (ANI) against the platform.

A division bench comprising of Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela noted that adverse comments were made against the single judge on the page which was prima facie contemptuous.

The Wikipedia page in question is titled “Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation.” It reads “The judge in the case has threatened to order the government of India to shut down Wikipedia in the country.”

On Monday, the bench had taken exception to the page in question and pulled up Wikipedia observing that that the page will have to be taken down and that the single judge cannot be put in fear or be threatened.

During the hearing today, Advocate Siddhant Kumar appearing for ANI told court that after the last hearing, observations of the division bench were opened up for discussion on the page.

Observing that the said act “compounds the contempt,” the bench said:

“The said description of the impugned order and of the single judge is prima facie contemptuous and amounts to interference in the court proceedings and that too by an entity whose editors are defendants in the suit.“

Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal appearing for Wikipedia submitted that neither the page wherein the impugned order was being commented upon nor the page on which discussion was opened regarding the observaitons of the division bench were created by Wikipedia.

He also stated that in the event the Court directs to take down the page and discussions, the said order wil be complied with.

“Accordingly, in the interim, this Court directs that the pages on Wikipedia pertaining to the single judge as well as discussion of the observations of division bench be taken down or deleted within 36 hours,” the Court ordered.

The matter will now be heard next week.

The bench was hearing an appeal filed by Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts Wikipedia, against a single judge order directing it to disclose subscriber details of three individuals who edited ANI Wikipedia page.

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.

Title: Wikimedia Foundation v. ANI & Ors. 

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Del) 1138