Jay Shah Case: Court Lifts Injunction on The Wire

An article alleging that Jay Shah’s business grew 16,000-fold since 2014 has triggered a political storm.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The civil court in Mirzapr in Ahmedabad lifted the interim injunction imposed on The Wire on its reportage against the illegal business activities of BJP President’s son Jay Shah.

On 8 October, The Wire, had carried a report alleging Jay Shah, "has seen a dramatic increase in some of his businesses since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister."

The court had originally granted an all encompassing ex parte injunction to Jay Shah barring The Wire from “using and publishing or printing in any electronic, print, digital or any other media, or broadcast, telecast, print and publish in any manner including by way of interview, holding Tv talks, debate and debates, news items, programs in any language on the basis of the article published in ‘THE WIRE ‘ (dated 8/10/2010) either directly or indirectly on the subject matter with respect to the plaintiff in any manner whatsoever.”

However, the injunction is now restricted only to the line “Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister/elected as Prime Minister,” according to the court ruling on 23 December. This also means that the news website can now report and write on any and every aspect of Jay Shah’s business and public activities including the original story.

The media house had earlier challenged the injunction saying it was a violation of freedom of the press. They had also claimed that the original article ‘‘The Golden Touch of Jay Amit Shah’ did not contain any content that was derogatory in nature and was based completely on public records and information provided by Jay Shah himself.

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