A Gujarat court on Thursday granted bail to journalist Ravi Nair, who was taken into custody last week after a non-bailable warrant was issued against him in a criminal defamation case filed by the Adani Group, Bar and Bench reported.
Principal and District Sessions Judge Ashish JS Malhotra allowed Nair’s regular bail application in Gandhinagar. He was represented by advocate Abhik Chimni.
Nair had been out on bail while appealing against his conviction in the case but was sent to judicial custody on Sept. 17 after a sessions court issued a non-bailable warrant over his failure to appear personally at an appeal hearing.
The development came a day after the Gujarat High Court declined to grant Nair interim relief in his challenge to the warrant.
The case relates to posts and articles published by Nair between October 2020 and July 2021 concerning the Adani Group. The company filed the criminal complaint in September 2021.
Adani Group alleged that Nair had published material on his X account, formerly known as Twitter, and on the website adaniwatch.org, making allegations including corruption, crony capitalism, manipulation of environmental regulations, misuse of government agencies and other unethical business practices.
A Judicial Magistrate First Class court in Mansa, Gujarat, convicted Nair on Feb. 10 and sentenced him to one year in prison and a fine of Rs 5,000. Nair subsequently appealed the conviction before the sessions court.
The sessions court suspended his sentence and granted him bail on March 9 while his appeal was pending, subject to conditions including his appearance during the proceedings.
Nair did not appear personally at a hearing on Sept. 3 and his request for exemption was rejected. The sessions court subsequently issued a non-bailable warrant.
Nair later appeared before the court and sought cancellation of the warrant. The court rejected his plea and ordered that he be taken into judicial custody on Sept. 17.
He then approached the Gujarat High Court, challenging the warrant and seeking release from custody. The High Court on Wednesday declined to grant interim relief while its order on the petition remained pending.
Nair had separately moved the sessions court seeking regular bail, which was allowed on Thursday.
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