The Delhi High Court refused to grant urgent orders against Abhijit Iyer-Mitra for tweets allegedly reviving earlier defamatory remarks against Newslaundry. The Court adjourned the matter to October 16, noting a balance of rights was needed.
New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said no to giving any immediate relief to Newslaundry journalists who had complained that commentator Abhijit Iyer-Mitra again made defamatory remarks about them on social media.
They alleged that he had posted new tweets on July 3 and August 4, even after the Court had earlier ordered him to take down some objectionable posts.
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Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav noted that there has to be a balance of rights. He pointed out that Iyer-Mitra had already removed his earlier tweets as per the Court’s directions.
According to the Judge, the new posts did not directly target Newslaundry, since they referred to “poetry” and “Basti.”
The Court said,
“Are there any other posts? Let us see if there is any repeated recurrence. Today we are not passing any order, we are simply adjourning.”
The next hearing will be held on October 16.
Advocate Bani Dikshit, appearing for Newslaundry journalists including Managing Editor Manisha Pande, argued that this was their second interim application, which they were allowed to file as per the Court’s liberty granted in May 2025.
She told the Court,
“He is very proud of the fact that the posts were poetic.”
According to her, the July 3 and August 4 tweets could not be taken lightly. She said,
“There is no ambiguity in anybody’s mind that ‘Basti’ can only be the posts.”
She added that these remarks clearly carried innuendos linked to the earlier derogatory language where Newslaundry was described as a “basti/brothel.”
When the Court noted that one of the pages shown was not directly posted by Iyer-Mitra, Advocate Dikshit clarified that these were “posts on his posts” and had to be read together.
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She argued,
“He is making an innuendo qua the posts he has already made. The referencing is very clear.”
She further insisted,
“The tweets, without their earlier context, mean nothing.”
The case involves a Rs 2 crore defamation suit filed by Newslaundry journalists against Abhijit Iyer-Mitra and X Corp (Twitter).
They had first approached the Court saying that Iyer-Mitra had called women journalists “prostitutes” and labelled Newslaundry as a “basti/brothel.”
According to them, this was part of a sustained vilification campaign that caused both mental trauma and serious damage to their reputation.
On May 21, Iyer-Mitra had assured the Court that he would delete some of the objectionable posts within five hours. This undertaking was recorded in an interim order. Later, on May 26, summons were issued in the matter.
At that time, the Court also allowed the plaintiffs to return to Court if any fresh defamatory content was posted.
The Bench had further clarified that it would only look into the specific posts under challenge, while any other issues would have to be raised separately.
The Court had also observed that the language used by Iyer-Mitra was unacceptable. It remarked that such language was “not permissible in a civilised society” and even warned that it was thinking of ordering police action. It was only then that Iyer-Mitra agreed to take down his earlier tweets.
Now, despite those directions, the plaintiffs have complained that he has again started making defamatory insinuations.
They pointed to the July 3 and August 4 tweets which, according to them, revived the earlier disputed remarks.
In their latest application, the Newslaundry journalists have asked the Court to order an injunction stopping Iyer-Mitra from making further defamatory comments, removal of the new posts, and directions to X Corp to take down any similar content.
Iyer-Mitra was represented in Court by Senior Advocate Percival Billimoria.
Case Title:
Manisha Pande v. Abhijit Iyer-Mitra.
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