HC reserves order on Bloomberg's plea over take down of article against Zee

The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved the order on plea moved by Bloomberg Television Production Services India Private Limited challenging the order of the Saket district court directing it to take down an article titled "India Regulator Uncovers USD 241 Million Accounting Issue at Zee" published on February 21 from its website.

The bench of Justice Shalinder Kaur decided to reserved the order after hearing the submissions at length of both sides.

The article claimed that the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had apparently "found a discrepancy of more than USD 240 million in the accounts of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd".

The Saket Court on March 1 stated that the plaintiff/Zee has made out a prima facie case for passing ad interim ex-parte orders of injunction, the balance of convenience is also in favour of the plaintiff and against the defendant/Bloomberg and irreparable loss and injury may be caused to the plaintiff, if the injunction as prayed for is not granted.

Following this, Bloomberg and its journalists were directed to take down the article from the online platform within one week of receipt of the order. Bloomberg and its reporters were further restrained from posting, circulating or publishing the aforesaid article in respect of the plaintiff on any online or offline platform till the next date of hearing.

Arguing for ZEE, Advocate Vijay Aggarwal assisted by Naman Joshi and Guneet Sidhu contended that the article was "completely incorrect and false." Aggarwal contended that the defamatory Article had been published to malign and defame ZEEL's reputation in a pre-meditated and malafide manner.

In response to a query, Aggarwal said no question of truth as a defence could arise as SEBI had not rendered any finding against ZEEL.