The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered the removal of “entirely false” reports claiming that Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, several other judges and Union ministers travelled to London at public expense to participate in a badminton tournament.
Justice Tejas Karia ordered the removal of several media reports and social media posts making these claims in response to a petition by the Badminton Association of India. He directed the government to issue notifications requiring social media platforms and search engines to remove the “false, malicious and derogatory” content within 24 hours.
“Members of the public are further restrained from uploading, publishing, circulating, sharing or otherwise disseminating the impugned content on any social media platform, search engine, web-hosting platform, digital media platform or other online media or platform,” the court ordered.
Among the links ordered to be removed were reports by The Print, National Herald and The Tribune, and a post on X by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi.
The Badminton Association of India contended that the media reports and social media posts falsely suggested that the chief justice and several other judges travelled to London for a tournament along with Union ministers, thus compromising judicial independence.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the photographs accompanying these posts were not from London, but were from a badminton event held at Delhi’s Thyagaraj Stadium in November. He said that the photos showed a ceremonial first match played by Kant, Justice Vikram Nath and Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and Kiren Rijiju.
The court on Friday also referred to a clarification by the Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check Unit saying that the claims on social media were “entirely false”.
Karia said that the claims being made in the reports and social media posts appeared to be part of a “systematic misinformation campaign intended to malign the reputation” of the chief justice and judges of the Supreme Court and High Court.
The court said it was of the view “that the impugned content is ex-facie false, malicious and derogatory to the judiciary, the executive and the sport of badminton”.
The content in question did not amount to fair criticism, but appeared to be based on “demonstrably incorrect factual assertions”, the court said.
The judge directed the government to file a status report showing compliance with the court’s directions within three weeks. The matter will be heard again on July 17.
Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.
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