RSF - Reporters sans frontières
RSF - Reporters sans frontières
02/19/2026 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 02/20/2026 06:24
In India, investigative journalist Ravi Nair sentenced to one year in prison for “defamation” of the Adani Group
A Gujarat court of first instance sentenced independent investigative journalist Ravi Nair to one year in prison in a criminal case for defamation brought by Adani Enterprises Limited, a holding of the vast Indian conglomerate run by billionaire Gautam Adani. The legal action highlights the group's particularly aggressive legal strategy towards journalists. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns this abusive use of defamation law.
Ravi Nair is the latest journalist to fall victim to the Adani Group's relentless legal offensive against the media industry. The one-year prison sentence handed down to him on 10 February is a result of a series of 17 postspublished by the independent investigative journalist between October 2020 and July 2021 on the social media plarofrm X. The posts in question merely shared media articles, including four of his own investigations, notably published on Adani Watch, the news site specialising in investigations into the Indian conglomerate. This information was already in the public domain and only new content was the journalist's comments on them.
However, a magistrates' court in the city of Mansa, in Gujarat state, ruled that the journalist's posts constituted an attack that sought to accuse the group of illegal or corrupt practices - even though the court did not examine the authenticity of the information contained in the shared articles, according to RSF information. The judge also considered that it unnecessary to demonstrate financial damage in order to prove the damage caused to the Adani Group's reputation.
On 13 February, the same court granted the journalist a one month suspension of his prison sentence. The journalist's lawyer announced that he planned to appeal and will ask the court to suspend the sentence until the appeal decision.
"The threat of a prison sentence for articles on topics of public interest poses a major obstacle to investigations into powerful economic stakeholders and undermines the public's right to information. This case illustrates the abusive uses of criminal defamation legislation, laws inherited from the colonial era that are now completely obsolete and being manipulated to silence criticism. RSF urges the Indian legislature to urgently decriminalise defamation - in favour of proportionate civil modes of recourse - and adopt robust legislation against SLAPPs in order to prevent the courts from being used to silence journalists.
Célia Mercier
Head of the RSF South Asia Desk
This conviction is part of a broader legal offensivecurrently being waged by the Adani Group. Since 2017, RSF has documented the conglomerate's strategy of civil and criminal proceedings targeting media outlets and journalists investigating it. These lawsuits often involve courts located in Gujarat, Gautam Adani's personal stronghold.
The prospect of a criminal conviction, the costs of defence, the proliferation of hearings and the choice of remote courts are being weaponised to intimidate journalists - a strategy which is particularly effective when used by people with considerable financial resources.
Published on19.02.2026
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