Gujarat High Court, Ahmedabad
On Feb 10, a JMFC court in Mansa town sentenced Nair to one year’s imprisonment and imposed a Rs 5,000 fine after finding him guilty in a defamation complaint filed by Adani Enterprise in 2021. Nair challenged his conviction before a district court, which suspended his sentence on March 9 and granted him bail on condition that he should remain present during the trial. Nair went to the Gandhinagar district court on Sept 17 and filed an application to cancel the non-bailable warrant.
The district court rejected his application to cancel a non-bailable warrant, ordered his immediate judicial custody, and sent him to jail. As Nair could not attend the court proceedings on that day, he sought exemption from personal appearance. But the district court rejected his request and issued a non-bailable warrant. The court rejected his application, ordered that he be taken into judicial custody, and directed the preparation of a jail warrant.
He obtained interim relief from the HC on his assurance that he would appear before the district court. Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court on Saturday evening issued a notice to the state govt during an urgent hearing following the jailing of journalist Ravi Nair by a Gandhinagar district court.
The lawyers submitted that instead of issuing summons or a bailable warrant, the sessions court straightaway issued an arrest warrant against Nair. The lawyers challenged the orders issuing the warrant and sending him to judicial custody. The HC issued notice to the state govt and posted the hearing for Monday.
On Saturday, Nair’s advocates, Ronith Joy and Abhik Chimni, convinced the HC administration to grant an urgent hearing, and Justice M K Thakker heard the case.