Gujarat High Court criticises disclosure failure in Ravi Nair arrest plea

The Gujarat High Court has reprimanded journalist Ravi Nair’s legal team for seeking an urgent hearing against his arrest without disclosing that a lower court had also been approached for bail. A single bench of Justice M.K. Thakkar disposed of Nair’s petition after noting that a sessions court had granted him bail the previous week.

The petition concerned his arrest in a criminal defamation case filed by Adani Enterprises. The High Court said Nair’s counsel had sought an urgent hearing on September 19 without informing it that an application for bail had been filed before the sessions court. The court said anyone invoking its extraordinary jurisdiction was required to act with “utmost candour, frankness and openness” and disclose material facts, including facts adverse to the case.

Nair was arrested after a non-bailable warrant was issued because he had failed to appear personally during a hearing in an appeal against his conviction. The Gandhinagar-based appellate court granted him bail on September 24. The High Court therefore declined to rule on the merits of the petition or make observations on the challenged order.

It disposed of the case in view of the subsequent bail order. A Mansa court in Gandhinagar sentenced Nair to one year in prison on February 10 in the criminal defamation case filed by Adani Enterprises in 2021 over tweets and articles attributed to him. He appealed against the conviction and received bail from the appellate court on March 9, subject to appearing during the appeal hearings.

His lawyers said he could not attend a September 3 hearing because of poor health and the need to travel from Kerala. The appellate court rejected his request for exemption from personal appearance and issued the non-bailable warrant. On September 17, it ordered that he be taken into custody, leading to the subsequent proceedings in the High Court.