The Delhi High Court criticised Richa Chadha and media houses for amplifying unverified sexual misconduct allegations, calling it “digital vigilantism.” The Court said such actions damage reputation, violate presumption of innocence, and ordered removal of defamatory content.
The Delhi High Court recently made strong observations in a defamation case involving actor Richa Chadha and several media houses including ABP News and NDTV over the public circulation of unverified sexual misconduct allegations against a man who was accused by a woman journalist during a Delhi–Mumbai flight.
The case relates to an incident dated March 11, when a woman journalist alleged that a man sitting next to her on a Delhi–Mumbai flight touched her inappropriately during the journey. After the flight landed, instead of immediately filing a police complaint, the journalist posted the allegation on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
In her post, she revealed the identity of the man, shared his photograph, and mentioned his professional details, stating that he was a senior professional at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The post quickly went viral and was widely shared across social media platforms. Several digital media outlets also published reports about the incident. Actor Richa Chadha also reposted the allegation and added the remark, “Make him famous”. This led to further circulation of the allegation online.
However, the man denied all allegations and claimed that he remained seated throughout the flight and had fallen asleep shortly before landing. He then approached the Delhi High Court and filed a defamation suit against the journalist, Richa Chadha, and multiple media platforms for damaging his reputation by spreading unverified allegations.
The matter was heard by Justice Vikas Mahajan on March 20. During the hearing, the Court made serious observations about the role of public figures and media in sharing unverified allegations on social media.
The Court observed that Richa Chadha’s endorsement and amplification of unverified allegations along with the “instigatory” text ‘Make him famous’, went beyond free speech and contributed to online public shaming and digital vigilantism.
The Court emphasised that public figures have both legal and moral responsibility before sharing serious allegations on social media platforms.
ALSO READ: Kerala High Court Suspends Judge Amid Shocking Sexual Misconduct Allegations By Litigant
The Court said,
“The Court is prima facie of the view that endorsement of unverified allegations has inflicted immediate, exponential, and incalculable harm on the plaintiff’s reputation,”
the judge said.
The Court also noted that Richa Chadha had deleted the tweet and the Court expressed that it expects her not to escalate the issue again in the future.
The Court also criticised the journalist who made the allegation for posting the accusation on social media before filing an FIR. The Court observed that while any person has the right to raise a complaint, posting serious allegations publicly before the start of an official investigation can harm the rights of the accused person.
The Court said,
“While defendant no. 1 [journalist] has an unhindered right to report a grievance, but using social media to circulate allegations of inappropriate touching and revealing the identity of the plaintiff along with his photograph before a formal investigation even commences, in a prima facie view of this Court, is a severe transgression of the plaintiff’s fundamental right to live with dignity and have fair trial,”
the Court said.
The Delhi High Court also criticised media organisations including NDTV, ABP, OBNews and an Instagram page named Pardafaash Media for publishing and sensationalising the allegations without verifying the facts independently. The Court observed that some reports treated the allegations as if they were already proven and presented the man as guilty even before the investigation had progressed.
The Court strongly reminded the media about the basic principle of criminal law that every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The Court said,
“Such pronouncements grossly violate the foundational principle of criminal jurisprudence viz. the presumption of innocence until proven guilty, and create an unwarranted parallel investigation that has the potential of severely prejudicing the ongoing investigation in the aforesaid FIR,”
the Court said.
Considering the seriousness of the matter, the Delhi High Court ordered the removal of defamatory content from social media and digital platforms and restrained the defendants from publishing or sharing similar allegations until the next date of hearing.
Senior Advocate Shyel Trehan, along with advocates Priyadarshini Dewan, Shankari Mishra, Niti Khanna, Vidhi Jain and Rohan Poddar, appeared for the man who filed the defamation case. Advocate Vanya Chhabra appeared for the journalist. Senior Advocate Madhav Khuranna, along with advocates Aman Raj Gandhi, Saloni Kumar, Chattanya Sharma, Amit Badesra and Lakshay Shehrawat, appeared for actor Richa Chadha.
This case is important because it highlights the growing issue of social media trials, digital vigilantism, and the responsibility of public figures and media houses while sharing serious allegations online.
The Delhi High Court’s observations make it clear that freedom of speech does not include the right to damage someone’s reputation by sharing unverified allegations, and that the presumption of innocence and the right to dignity are important constitutional protections that must be respected.
Click Here to Read More Reports on Sexual Misconduct
