'Go To HC': Supreme Court Rejects Journalist Ravi Nair's Plea Against Gujarat Crime Branch Notice Over Article On Adani Ports

Asking him to approach the jurisdictional High Court, the Supreme Court today refused to entertain journalist Ravi Nair's plea against Gujarat Crime Branch's notice to him on a complaint allegedly made by Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd.A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed the case as withdrawn, with liberty to approach the High Court.Nair approached the Court challenging Gujarat Crime Branch's notice dated February 12, 2026, issued to him in connection with an article published last year in The Washington Post titled "India's $3.9 billion plan to help Modi's mogul ally after U.S. charges". Nair co-authored the article with the then New Delhi bureau chief for The Washington Post-Pranshu Verma.Statedly, on February 12, Nair received the impugned notice from Crime Branch, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, directing him to remain personally present at the office of the Crime Branch on February 19 for preliminary enquiry in connection with the article and one of his tweets. Aggrieved, he approach the top Court.Senior Advocate Anand Grover, for Nair, argued that the company (Adani) has initiated 3 cases against Nair and he is consistently being harassed. It was contended that the Crime Branch acted without jurisdiction.The bench however queried as to why a petition was filed under Article 32, instead of approaching the jurisdictional High Court. "It's a fundamental right", replied Grover, while emphasizing on the petitioner's right to free speech.When the bench was not convinced to entertain the plea, the senior counsel prayed that interim protection from coercive action may be granted till Nair approaches the High Court. The bench however declined to grant such protection, noting there's an option to e-file.It may be recalled that Adani Enterprise Limited also filed a criminal defamation case alleging that Nair published and disseminated a series of tweets containing false and defamatory statements intended to damage the reputation of AEL and the Adani Group.In February, a Gujarat Court convicted Nair and sentenced him to one year's imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000. Judicial First Class Magistrate Damini Dixit held him guilty of the offence of criminal defamation under Section 499 of IPC. The Court rejected his plea that the posts in question amounted to fair comment and legitimate criticism on issues of public concern and governance.Case Title: RAVI NAIR Versus STATE OF GUJARAT AND ANR., W.P.(Crl.) No. 106/2026

'Go To HC': Supreme Court Rejects Journalist Ravi Nair's Plea Against Gujarat Crime Branch Notice Over Article On Adani Ports

Debby Jain

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