Journalist Ravi Nair gets bail in Adani defamation case after week in custody

• Journalist Ravi Nair was granted bail by a Gandhinagar sessions court on Thursday, a week after he was taken into custody for failing to appear at an appeal hearing.

• Nair is challenging his conviction and one-year sentence in a criminal defamation case filed by Adani Enterprises over his articles and social media posts.

• The Gujarat High Court has refused interim relief and reserved its order on Nair’s challenge to the non-bailable warrant for 30 September. 

A Gandhinagar sessions court on Thursday, 24 September granted bail to journalist Ravi Nair, a week after he was taken into custody for failing to appear before it during the hearing of his appeal against his conviction in a criminal defamation case filed by Adani Enterprises.

Principal district and sessions judge Ashish J.S. Malhotra allowed Nair's bail plea, his lawyer Ronith Joy said. Nair was arrested on 17 September after the court issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) over his non-appearance.

"His bail application was moved in the sessions court on Saturday and it was heard on Monday. Today, the court allowed his plea," Joy said.

The development came a day after the Gujarat High Court refused to grant Nair interim relief in his separate challenge to the NBW. Justice M.K. Thakker reserved the high court's order on the petition, with the matter listed for 30 September.

The high court had also questioned Nair's lawyers for not informing it that a regular bail application had already been filed before the sessions court. It observed that, had it been informed, it may not have permitted an urgent hearing of the matter.

Nair was convicted by a Mansa court in Gandhinagar on 10 February and sentenced to one year in prison in a criminal defamation case filed by Adani Enterprises on 3 September 2021 over articles and social media posts attributed to him.

Nair challenged the conviction before the Gandhinagar sessions court, which granted him bail on 9 March during the pendency of his appeal, subject to the condition that he remain personally present during the proceedings.

Nair's lawyers said he could not appear at the hearing on 3 September because of poor health and because he had to travel from his home state of Kerala. The appellate court rejected his plea seeking exemption from personal appearance and issued the NBW.

On 17 September, after the warrant was executed, the court ordered that Nair be taken into custody and he was sent to jail.

Alongside his bail plea before the sessions court, Nair also challenged the NBW before the Gujarat High Court. His lawyers argued that the sessions court had issued the warrant without first issuing a summons or bailable warrant. The high court has reserved its order on that petition for 30 September.

The high court had also questioned why Nair's petition challenging the NBW was being pursued after the warrant had already been executed. His lawyers, meanwhile, argued that his absence was linked to his health and disputed any suggestion that he had deliberately failed to appear.

The underlying defamation case dates back to 2021, when Adani Enterprises filed a criminal complaint over a series of tweets and articles attributed to Nair. He has challenged the conviction and is pursuing an appeal against the verdict.

With the sessions court granting bail, Nair's immediate custody has ended. His appeal against the conviction and his challenge to the NBW remain pending.

With PTI inputs