Delhi High Court stays trial court verdict against Hindustan Times, Neelesh Misra in defamation case

The Delhi High Court has stayed a trial court judgment that had directed Hindustan Times and its former reporter Neelesh Misra to pay ₹40 lakhs as damages to a businessman over an allegedly defamatory news article [HT Media Limited & Anr. Vs Arun Kumar Gupta & Ors]..Justice Mini Pushkarna passed the interim order on Thursday, thereby staying a June 6 judgment passed by a Delhi District Court."It is directed that the operation of the judgment and decree dated 06th June, 2025, passed by the District Judge, South East District, Saket Courts, Delhi in C.S. DJ No. 6574/2016, shall remain stayed, till the next date of hearing," the Court stated.The order was passed in an appeal filed by Hindustan Times and Mishra against the trial court's verdict. The High Court also sought response of the businessman, Arun Kumar Gupta, to the appeal. .The case concerns an article titled “Get Smart, Email with Care”, which was authored by Mishra and published by Hindustan Times (HT) in 2007. They contended that the purpose of the article was to make the public aware about misuse of the electronic communications, such as email.However, the said article also mentioned an allegation about a former employee of a company called Integrix. The news article said that he was sacked" from the company "for alleged financial irregularities."Gupta sued the newspaper and Mishra over this aspect of the article, arguing that such a reference to him was defamatory..Gupta had joined Integrix as Director in 2000 and resigned in July 2005 to start his own company. In March and April 2006, Integrix filed two suits over a defamatory email and hacking of its website. On orders of the Delhi High Court, it was later revealed that the IP address linked to the email and hacking could be traced to Gupta.In January 2007, Hindustan Times published the news report written by Misra. Without naming Gupta, it stated that he had been sacked for financial irregularities.Gupta sued the paper, Misra, Integrix, its directors and even its lawyer for defamation. He later settled the case with all, except Hindustan Times and Misra. In their response, HT and Mishra said that the article was written on the basis of credible information received from sources and corroborated by various documents including copies of suits filed by Integrix against Gupta..In the June 6 verdict, Judge Prabh Deep Kaur of the Saket District Court found that the newspaper and Misra did not disclose the exact source of information, nor did they filed any document to support their claim that Gupta was sacked for alleged financial irregularities. On the argument that Gupta was not named in the article, the court said that all the witnesses examined by him admitted that they were aware about the court cases and they could co-relate the report to him. The moment witnesses questioned Gupta on the basis of averments made in the article, damage had been caused to his reputation, it added.Judge Kaur concluded that HT and Mishra were liable for defamation, and therefore ordered them to pay ₹40 lakhs as damages to Gupta. The trial court ordered the newspaper to pay 3/4th of the amount while Misra was directed to pay the rest of the compensation.The court also ordered the newspaper to publish an apology within 60 days.This trial court judgment has now been challenged before the Delhi High Court, which will hear the matter next on December 19. .Advocates Vanita Bhargava, Ajay Bhargava, Madhur Dhingra, Dhalguni Nigam and Aman Khemka appeared for HT and Misra. .[Read order]