Thomas Franco

PUBLIC STATEMENT BY PARANJOY GUHA THAKURTA On the arbitrary takedown of paranjoy.in by Hostinger following legal notices from Indiabulls founder Sameer Gehlaut October 31, 2026 On the morning of October 28, 2026, my website paranjoy.in and all its associated subdomains, including media.paranjoy.in and adanifiles.paranjoy.in, were abruptly taken offline by our web hosting provider, Hostinger (HOSTINGER operations, UAB). The website, registered twelve years ago, serves as an online archive of my work over several decades as a journalist, author, publisher, and maker of documentary films and music videos Hostinger gave no prior intimation, warning, or opportunity to respond before suspending the entire hosting account. When my colleague contacted Hostinger “Support” at 6:48 AM on October 28, a hosting “specialist” stated that the suspension was triggered by an abuse report for "Fraud/Scam" and declared that "unsuspension is not negotiable in this case." This sudden shutdown of an entire repository under the label "Fraud/Scam" happened just days after Sameer Gehlaut, founder of the Indiabulls group, served me with an ex parte court order demanding the removal of a single article published more than seven years on Newsclick.in. For over six years, Indiabulls and Shri Gehlaut have pursued legal action over this report and I have consistently defended our journalistic report in court. Here is the timeline: · March 11, 2020: Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited filed a criminal defamation complaint (CC No. 1765/2020) before the Patiala House Courts, New Delhi, against NewsClick, its Reader's Editor Urmilesh, co-author of the article Sourodipto Sanyal, NewsClick editor Prabir Purkayastha, and me over an article published on the website on September 30, 2019. · June 6, 2025 and July 9, 2025: More than five years after the complaint was filed, a Judicial Magistrate at Patiala House Courts passed an order on June 6, 2025, dropping proceedings against Shri Purkayastha while issuing summons to the remaining four accused, including me, under Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code. A formal summons was issued on July 9, 2025, for appearance on July 30, 2025. · August 27, 2026: Counsel for Shri Gehlaut, sent me a legal notice demanding the takedown of the article within 24 to 48 hours, claiming that a status report by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police had altered the factual position. · September 2, 2026: My counsel sent a reply pointing out concerns with the legal notice · October 24, 2026: Indiabulls Nests Limited (Plaintiff No. 1) and Sameer Gehlaut (Plaintiff No. 2) obtained an ex parte ad interim injunction from the Court of one of the District and Sessions Judges, Patiala House Courts, New Delhi, in Civil Suit No. 529/2026 (Indiabulls Nests Ltd. & Anr. v. Ashok Kumar/John Doe & Ors.), in which I am arrayed as Defendant No. 19. The order directed the removal and de-indexing of the article on paranjoy.in (listed as Item A-33 in Schedule A). · October 25, 2026 (10:13 AM IST): Advocates representing Indiabulls Nests Limited and Sameer Gehlaut, emailed me the October 24 court order and suit documents, demanding immediate deletion and written confirmation of compliance. · October 26, 2026 (11:33 PM IST): Sameer Gehlaut personally sent an email from his official address ([email protected]) demanding the immediate deletion of the URL from paranjoy.in and threatening to move the court under Order XXXIX Rule 2A of the Code of Civil Procedure if I did not comply, noting that the matter is next listed on December 18, 2026. While I was in the process of challenging the order dated 24.10.2026 before higher forums, on the same day, advocates representing Shri Gehlaut submitted a court order takedown complaint to Google LLC. · October 28, 2026 (3:16 PM IST): Google Search Console sent an automated notice ([WNC-598900]) informing me that Google was blocking the specific URL paranjoy.in/article/the-maze…  from appearing in search results on google.co.in. The Lumen Database record of this complaint (Notice ID: 101001876) reveals the scale of the takedown request. The complaint targeted 52 URLs on websites across major national and international news organisations, including The Economic Times, Business Standard, The Caravan, The Daily Pioneer, Business Today, Deccan Herald, ET Now, Financial Express, Livemint, Moneycontrol, Moneylife, NDTV Profit, The New Indian Express, Outlook Business, The Quint, Quartz, and NewsClick, along with posts on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Scribd. Most of these reports on major corporate news websites remain accessible online. In fact, Item 39 on the Lumen takedown list is the original September 30, 2019 article published on NewsClick.in: newsclick.in/The-Maze-of-Pol…, which remains live and accessible as of now. Yet, in the case of paranjoy.in, the entire domain and every website hosted on my account were wiped off the internet. Hostinger's Baseless "Fraud/Scam" Claim and Demand for Accountability Hostinger did not cite the Patiala House Courts order when it suspended my account on October 28, 2026. Instead, its representative claimed that the hosting account was permanently suspended due to an abuse report for "Fraud/Scam". This allegation is demonstrably false: 1. VirusTotal Security Analysis: Independent domain checks conducted on October 28, 2026, at 7:48 AM and 7:54 AM on VirusTotal confirm that 0 out of 92 security vendors flagged paranjoy.in or media.paranjoy.in as malicious, phishing, or fraudulent. VirusTotal explicitly categorises paranjoy.in under "news and media". 2. Google Safe Browsing Status: Checks on the Google Safe Browsing diagnostic tool at 7:55 AM and 7:56 AM on October 28, 2026, for both paranjoy.in and adanifiles.paranjoy.in returned the status: "No unsafe content found". My website paranjoy.in does not sell financial products, solicit funds for commercial schemes, or engage in any activity that could remotely be classified as a scam. It is a repository of public-interest journalism, books, documentary films, and investigative reports built over a lifetime of work. By acting on a fabricated "Fraud/Scam" abuse report without a single verification check or prior notice to the domain owner, Hostinger has allowed its abuse-reporting mechanism to be weaponised to censor an independent journalist. Even where a court order directs the removal or de-indexing of a specific URL, a web hosting provider has no legal or ethical justification to pull down an entire domain and hundreds of unrelated articles, archives, and subdomains without notice. I demand immediate answers and accountability from Hostinger: 1. Who submitted the false "Fraud/Scam" abuse report against paranjoy.in, and on what exact date and time was it received? 2. What internal verification did Hostinger's abuse team conduct before classifying a 12-year-old journalism portal as a "Fraud/Scam" site, especially when 92 security vendors on VirusTotal and Google Safe Browsing show zero malicious or unsafe content? 3. Why was no prior notice, warning, or copy of the complaint sent to me before suspending the entire hosting account? 4. On what basis did Hostinger's specialist declare that the suspension of an entire archive of journalistic work is "not negotiable"? While my legal advisers are in the process of taking appropriate steps in court regarding the ex parte order dated October 24, 2026, and the wholesale suspension of my website, this backdoor censorship through web hosting providers sets a dangerous precedent for the independence of the media and freedom of expression as enshrined in Article (19)(1)(a) of the Constitution of India as a fundamental right of every citizen of India. Yours sincerely Paranjoy Guha Thakurta Independent Journalist, Author, Publisher and Maker of Documentary Films and Music Videos