Courts have to be tolerant: Supreme Court on Delhi HC's takedown order against Wikipedia in ANI case

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Asian News International (ANI) on a plea moved by the Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia) against a Delhi High Court order for takedown of the page 'Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation'..The Bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan questioned the rationale behind the High Court order against Wikipedia and said the issue at hand involved freedom of media."Ultimately this is media. The question is about freedom of media. Today it is he (Wikipedia), tomorrow it may be you," the Court told the counsel representing ANI which has filed a defamation case against Wikipedia..The page in question, which has already been taken down, was not per se against ANI but a page containing details about the defamation case filed by ANI against Wikipedia in Delhi High Court.The page in fact contained details about the hearing in the High Court and the remarks made by the High Court during the hearing of ANI's defamation suit.The High Court had taken objection to the same and had even said in its order that discussion about the observations made by the Court would amount to contempt of court.In view of the same, it had in October 2024 ordered the online encyclopedia to take down the page.However, the Supreme Court today was not impressed by the same and asked why the High Court was "so touchy" about the same.It also said that court proceedings today are often subject to criticism on social media etc. and courts should not ask the same to be taken down merely because it is critical of the court.The Bench emphasised that judges have to be more tolerant of criticism..The question is about freedom of media. Today it is Wikipedia, tomorrow it may be you.Supreme Court.Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Wikipedia today and told the Court that it is a serious issue."My lords, it is a very serious issue. Without giving a finding on defamation order has been passed," he submitted.Advocate Sidhant Kumar appeared for ANI and told the Court that since Wikipedia claims that they did not author the page, they do not have locus to challenge the order.It was also contended that Wikimedia suppressed the fact that it had accepted the order of take down by the High Court and on that basis, the contempt action by ANI was withdrawn. The Court after hearing the parties issued notice and listed the matter for next hearing on April 4..Besides Kapil Sibal, Senior Advocate Akhil Sibal and advocates Nikhil Narendran and Tina Abraham from Trilegal law firm appeared for Wikipedia.Advocate Sidhant Kumar appeared for ANI..The issue arose after ANI sued Wikipedia for defamation alleging that the platform allowed defamatory edits by certain users referring to the news agency as a "propaganda tool" for the present Central government.The High Court issued summons to Wikipedia on July 9 and ordered it to disclose information about three people who made the edits on ANI's Wikipedia page.ANI later filed a contempt of court application before a single-judge of the High Court alleging that the order was not complied with.Wikipedia's counsel told the Court that it has to make certain submissions regarding the order and that it took them time to appear because Wikipedia is not based in India.However, Justice Navin Chawla on September 5 took strong objection to Wikipedia's conduct and ordered an authorised representative of Wikipedia to be personally present in Court on October 25.Wikipedia then moved the Division Bench in appeal.However, when the matter came up before the the Division Bench, it noted that a page had been created on the case itself.The High Court then took strong objection to Wikipedia allowing the page titled 'Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation' to be published in relation to case.The Court also objected to Wikipedia's refusal to divulge the details of persons who had made edits to the page about ANI.Eventually, A Division Bench of Chief Justice Manmohan (who has since been elevated to the apex court) and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela ordered Wikipedia to take down the page on ANI's case.This led to the present appeal before the top court.