A bailable warrant secures a person’s presence in court; it is not a finding of guilt. Fresh bailable warrants against Dhruv Rathee have now been issued by a Saket court in the 2018 criminal defamation case over his ‘BJP IT Cell Part 2’ YouTube video.
New Delhi: On Saturday, October 31, 2026, a Delhi court at Saket issued fresh bailable warrants against YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in a criminal defamation complaint filed in 2018 over his YouTube video titled “BJP IT Cell Part 2” [Vikas Sankrityayan @ Vikas Pandey v. Dhruv Rathee & Ors.].
The order was passed by Judicial Magistrate First Class (South East) Rahul Jain of the Saket Courts. The first bailable warrants against Rathee had been issued on October 17, 2026.
A summons that took years to chase
Rathee was first summoned by an order dated July 23, 2019. On October 12, 2026, on an application by Advocate Samaksh Sharma for the complainant, the magistrate ordered fresh summons to an address in Sector 56, Gurugram, allowed dasti service and let the complainant accompany the process server.
The complainant’s counsel had submitted that Rathee ordinarily resides in Austria, that service had been delayed for years for that reason, and that he was then in India. The October 12 order recorded:
“From the available record, it is clear that the complainant has been trying to served the accused no. 1 since last several years as the accused was initially summoned vide order dated 23.07.2019.”
Those summons required Rathee to appear on October 17, 2026, in person or through counsel. Bailable warrants were issued on that date, and the court has now issued fresh ones. The next date of hearing has not been stated.
The complaint behind the warrants
The complaint, registered as Ct. Cases 5786/2018, was filed by Vikas Sankrityayan, also known as Vikas Pandey. He alleges that the video, uploaded by Rathee in May 2018, carried content defamatory of him. These are allegations in a private complaint; they have not been tested at trial, the court has expressed no view on the merits, and Rathee is presumed innocent.
The same case saw former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had retweeted the video, tender an apology before the Supreme Court in February 2024. The proceedings against Rathee, as the creator of the video, continued before the magistrate.
What a bailable warrant does, and what it does not
A bailable warrant is process to secure an accused person’s appearance, not a finding of guilt; the accused can be released on furnishing a bond. The fresh warrants show the court moving to secure Rathee’s presence in a case that has been stuck at the service stage since 2019. Whether the video was defamatory remains to be decided.
The case also shows how criminal defamation can take different paths for the creator of online content and for those who share it: the retweeter’s apology closed his part, while the creator’s case goes on.
Case Title: Vikas Sankrityayan @ Vikas Pandey v. Dhruv Rathee & Ors. [Ct. Cases 5786/2018]
Court: Judicial Magistrate First Class (South East) Rahul Jain, Saket Courts, New Delhi
Date of Order: October 31, 2026
For the Complainant: Samaksh Sharma, Advocate