An Ahmedabad civil court on Saturday vacated the ex parte and interim injunction imposed on news website The Wire against further use and follow-up of its October story – The Golden Touch of Jay Amit Shah – on the astronomical growth in turnover of Amit Shah’s son Jay’s company after the Modi government came to power in 2014. Jay Shah had filed a Rs 100 crore defamation suit against The Wire after the story broke.

The injunction, granted on October 10, was against “using and publishing or printing in any electronic, print, digital or any other media, or broadcast, telecast, print and publish in any manner including by way of interview, holding TV talks, debate and debates, news items, programmes in any language on the basis of the article published in The Wire (dated 8/10/2017) either directly or indirectly on the subject matter with respect to the plaintiff in any manner whatsoever”.

The court has now lifted all restrictions except the use of words (after) “Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister/elected as Prime Minister”.

The Wire had challenged the injunction contending that it was an unconstitutional restriction on the freedom of the press, and that there was nothing defamatory about the original article which was based entirely on public records and information provided by Jay Shah, it said in a report on Saturday.

The website called the lifting of the injunction a “victory for The Wire”, adding that the “decision by the civil court is a vindication of The Wire’s fundamental stand that its article ‘The Golden Touch of Jay Amit Shah’ was a legitimate exercise of the freedom of expression in the public interest”.

“The Wire is (now) free to report and write on any and every aspect of Jay Shah’s business and public activities including the original story,” the website said.