Earlier summons never reached him, so a Delhi court has now ordered fresh summons to Dhruv Rathee in a 2018 criminal defamation complaint and let the complainant go along with the process server.
New Delhi: Acting on the complainant’s plea for an early hearing and dasti (by hand) service, a Delhi court has issued fresh summons to Dhruv Rathee, the YouTuber, in a criminal defamation case filed in 2018 [Vikas Sankrityayan alias Vikas Pandey v. Dhruv Rathee].
The order was passed on October 12, 2026 by Judicial Magistrate Rahul Jain of the Saket Courts, who fixed October 17 as the next date. The case is at the stage of serving summons, and the court has expressed no view on the merits of the complaint.
The direction
Allowing the application, the court asked the complainant to file the process fee within two days and ordered: “let fresh summons be issued to accused no. 1 at the address mentioned above”. So that service is not delayed again, it allowed the complainant to accompany the process server.
Proceedings were initiated against both Rathee and Kejriwal, but the order reported here deals only with summons to Rathee.
Why service was the sticking point
Rathee was first summoned by an order dated July 23, 2019. Appearing for the complainant, Advocate Samaksh Sharma told the court that the summons had stayed unserved for years because Rathee lives mostly abroad. He added that Rathee is now in India, at a residence in Gurugram, Haryana.
The complaint traces back to a video Rathee posted in May 2018. As the complaint has it, the video alleged that the BJP’s Information and Technology cell had tried to bribe the complainant to defame someone. It was put out on Rathee’s X handle and retweeted by Arvind Kejriwal, then Chief Minister of Delhi, after which Pandey began defamation proceedings.
These are the complainant’s allegations. They have not been tested at trial, and the order does not record Rathee’s side.
What happens on October 17
Nothing in the order decides whether the 2018 video was defamatory. It clears a procedural hurdle: a criminal complaint cannot go beyond the summoning stage until the accused is served, and service had been pending since 2019.
Whether Rathee appears on the next date, and what defence he takes, will shape what follows. Both sides are yet to be heard, and Rathee is presumed innocent unless and until a court holds otherwise.
Case Title: Vikas Sankrityayan alias Vikas Pandey v. Dhruv Rathee [criminal defamation complaint, 2018]
Bench: Judicial Magistrate Rahul Jain, Saket Courts, Delhi
Date of Order: October 12, 2026
Appearance: Advocate Samaksh Sharma for the complainant