Delhi court orders Bloomberg to remove 'defamatory' article against Zee

The article mentioned details pertaining to the corporate governance and business operations of Zee, which were inaccurate in nature and led to a 15 per cent drop in the share price of the company

A sessions court in New Delhi on Friday ordered Bloomberg Television Production Services India to take down an article published against Zee Entertainment Enterprises on February 21 after Zee argued that the article was “false and factually incorrect, with a pre-meditated and malafide intention to defame the company.” 

The article mentioned details pertaining to corporate governance and business operations of Zee, which were inaccurate in nature and led to a 15 per cent drop in the share price of the company, Zee said in a statement. 

Bloomberg did not comment till press time.

“The article by Bloomberg, incorrectly published that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has found a $241 million accounting issue at the company; whereas there is no such order from the mentioned regulator. Despite the company firmly refuting the same, the article incorrectly published financial irregularities in Zee, without the basis of any order from the regulator,” Zee statement said. 

 

Additional District Judge, Harjyot Singh Bhalla, said that Zee has made out a prima facie case for passing ad interim ex-parte order of injunction and directed Bloomberg to take down the defamatory article from its platform within a week.