Justice Navin Chawla of the Delhi High Court on Monday recused himself from hearing an appeal filed by the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates Wikipedia, against a single-judge order directing the platform to remove allegedly defamatory statements about Asian News International (ANI)
The matter was listed before a Division Bench comprising Justice Chawla and Justice Renu Bhatnagar. However, at the outset, Justice Chawla directed that the case be transferred to another bench, subject to the orders of the Chief Justice.
The recusal is notable as Justice Chawla had previously dealt with the matter while sitting as a single judge. Last year, he had issued summons to Wikipedia after ANI filed a defamation suit over edits to its Wikipedia page, which described it as a "propaganda tool" for the Central government.
Justice Chawla had also directed Wikipedia to disclose the identities of three users responsible for the edits. When the platform allegedly failed to comply, he issued contempt of court notices and summoned an authorised representative to appear in person.
Following these developments, Wikipedia approached a Division Bench challenging the single-judge orders. The parties later reached a partial agreement—Wikipedia agreed to notify the users responsible for the edits while maintaining their anonymity.
Subsequently, the matter was reassigned to Justice Subramonium Prasad, who on April 2 issued an interim order directing the takedown of the contentious content. Justice Prasad held that Wikipedia could not absolve itself of responsibility merely by claiming intermediary status. He also found that the disputed edits were not faithful reproductions of the cited sources and distorted their meaning, making the statements ex-facie defamatory and damaging to ANI’s professional reputation.
It is this interim order that Wikimedia is now challenging in appeal. The case will now be placed before a different Division Bench following Justice Chawla's recusal.
Case Title: Wikimedia Foundation Inc & Ors vs. ANI Media Pvt. Ltd.