New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday criticised Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) spokesperson Saurav Das for publishing an allegation against BJP national
spokesperson and senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia without proper verification.
Das and CJP co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka subsequently agreed to remove the disputed social media posts within 24 hours.
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela made the observations while hearing Bhatia’s Rs 2 crore defamation suit against Das, Ranka, CJP and its founder Abhijit Dipke.
Court warns CJP leader
The disputed posts attributed a statement to Bhatia in which he allegedly called right-wing content creator Swatantra Bhardwaj a “dimagi naxal”. Bhatia denied making the comment.
The court told Das’s lawyer that young people had the right to express their opinions but should verify allegations and communicate their views responsibly.
“There are different ways of protesting. Do you really need to go to this? You are all youngsters; you may want to express so many things. But attacking certain things without verifying may not be correct. There is a lot of anxiety around nowadays. You are youth and you have the right to express. But sometimes expressions may need to be put in a more articulate manner. There are other ways of handling it. You are youngsters, and you have a long way to go. Why do you want to spend time in courts?” the judge said.
Row over AI graphic
Das had shared an AI-generated graphic on X on September 5 that attributed the alleged remark to Bhatia.
Das deleted the original post after Bhatia gave him 24 hours to remove it and issue an unconditional apology. However, Das later posted a clarification that the graphic was AI-generated and asked whether Bhatia “disagreed” with the statement attributed to him.
Ranka also shared content connected to the disputed graphic.
No immediate restraint
The court declined to immediately restrain Das and Ranka from publishing further content in view of their undertaking. It, however, directed Meta and X to remove identical posts in the future if Bhatia flags them.
The bench issued summons in the defamation suit and sought responses from Das and Ranka. Dipke, represented by advocate Nakul Gandhi, was also named in the proceedings.
“Are we not going to hear them? In the meantime, we are asking them to take down. We have told them. They have said they will take down. What else? Why would they post is the question? You can come back. Why are you not having faith? lot of people say a lot of things about courts also…. I am just generally saying, people do lampooning, A lot of people have a lot of criticism; we take it. You have a right to protect your reputation; we have no doubt about that,” the bench said.
Bhatia sought an interim injunction after another post allegedly appeared during the hearing. His lawyer argued that the court should not show leniency because the account had millions of followers.
The controversy arose amid protests by CJP members and politicians over police action against a 21-year-old right-wing content creator. Police accused him of severely injuring a 38-year-old man during a protest at Jantar Mantar in June.
