Will Resist Suppression of Press Freedom, Says Himal as Delhi HC Quashes Vantara's Case

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21-05-2025

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Will Resist Suppression of Press Freedom, Says Himal as Delhi HC Quashes Vantara's Case
The Wire Staff
11 minutes ago
Vantara had filed a contempt of court case against the media house for an investigative report it published on the centre.
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New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Monday (May 19) struck down a case filed by Vantara aka the Greens Zoological Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre (GZRRC) against media house Himal Southasian alleging contempt of court.
Himal, in a statement published by its editors on Tuesday, said that the court 'held that there was no judicial order or direction passed by the court against Himal requiring the magazine to remove the story, and hence the issue of contempt did not arise'.
On March 20 last year, Himal had published an in-depth investigative report about Vantara – a zoological and rescue centre established by Anant Ambani, son of Reliance Industries owner Mukesh Ambani, in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
The centre is still not open to the public, and according to a recent report by a German daily, now houses more than 30,000 wild animals from across the world.
The Himal report in 2024 had revealed several discrepancies in the way Vantara may have sourced animals from across India, including elephants from the northeast. Reported on and written by M. Rajshekhar, the story was one of the first investigative stories on Vantara. The Pulitzer Center supported the reporting for the story.
Vantara filed a contempt of court case against Himal for this story, per the latter's May 20 statement. According to the statement, Vantara alleged that Himal had 'wilfully disobeyed a judicial order' to take down this story from its website.
In February this year, the GZRRC and the Radhe Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust – both of which are part of Vantara – filed a strategic litigation against public participation suit against Himal and its editors in the Delhi high court, the Himal statement said, quoting its lawyer Vrinda Grover.
'In the guise of a contempt petition, Vantara made an attempt to legally intimidate and remove an article that raises pertinent questions about the Vantara project,' the statement quoted Grover as saying.
On May 19, the court dismissed Vantara's petition saying that it had not passed any judicial order or direction asking Himal to take down the story. Hence, the court said, an issue of contempt of court did not arise at all.
Himal, in its statement, has said that it stands by its investigative report on Vantara.
'We stand by the investigation and will resist any attempts at intimidation or the suppression of journalistic freedom. Himal shall continue to exercise and defend its right to freely report and comment on issues of public interest as an independent media organisation for the Southasian region,' its statement on Tuesday read.
The official judgment is yet to be uploaded on the website of the Delhi high court.
Vantara, meanwhile, has come under the scanner of several other media houses as well as animal rights organisations.
A news report published by a Brazilian media house on April 9 this year noted that Vantara has Spix's or blue macaws in its possession, and that the Brazilian government was unaware of the transfer of the birds to Vantara.
The Brazilian government requires that these birds – a species of parrot that is critically endangered and extinct in the wild in its native range in Brazil – be sent back to Brazil for its reintroduction programme if they cannot be looked after in any international breeding centre that they are currently housed at.
The Brazilian report also suggests that Vantara may have paid money to a breeding centre in Germany for the birds, but Vantara has denied this, according to the report.
On March 13 this year, an investigative report by German daily Suddeutsche Zeitung said that Vantara's demand for 'rescued' animals may have fuelled the illegal wildlife trade worldwide. Vantara, however, told The Wire that this report was 'entirely baseless' and 'misleading'.
On March 6 this year, the Wildlife Animal Protection Forum of South Africa – a network of 30 South African organisations – sent a letter to South African environment minister Dion George highlighting the 'concerning' high number of leopards, cheetahs, tigers and lions exported from South Africa to the GZRRC and urged that a probe be conducted into this issue.
Vantara, however, called this statement 'false and misleading' and filed a defamation case against the network.
The network responded saying that its statements against Vantara were neither false nor defamatory.
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