Pro-AAP propaganda YouTuber Dhruv Rathee has been summoned by a Delhi court in connection to a defamation case filed by software engineer and BJP volunteer Vikas Pandey. Judicial Magistrate Ankit Garg of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s court in Saket has ordered Rathee to be present in the court on 19 November.
The court stated that his presence during the hearing is necessary, and he must not fail to attend. The order issued by the court said, “WHEREAS your attendance is necessary to answer to a charge of offence punishable U/Sec. of, you are hereby required to appear in person (or by pleader, as the case may be) before the (Magistrate) of Judicial Magistrate First Class 01, on the day of 19-11-2024. Herein fail not.”
To,
— Mukesh Sharma (@ThisIsTheMukesh) September 21, 2024
Mr. Dhruv Rathee (@dhruv_rathee), you have been Summoned by the Hon'ble Court in a Criminal Defamation Case. Your physical appearance is required on 19th November 2024 before the Court of Sh. Ankit Garg, Ld. Judicial Magistrate-01, Saket Court, New Delhi. DM me for Case PDF. pic.twitter.com/WAKSsom98g
Responding to the summon, Vikas Pandey tweeted, “Dear @dhruv_rathee, hate to bring you the bad news when you just became a father, but you have just been summoned regarding the fake videos you made about me. It’s about time you stop running from law and appear in the court.”
Dear @dhruv_rathee, hate to bring you the bad news when you just became a father, but you have just been summoned regarding the fake videos you made about me. It’s about time you stop running from law and appear in the court. https://t.co/sGyrCXezzc
— Vikas Pandey (Sankrityayan) (@MODIfiedVikas) September 21, 2024
The case relates to a series of videos Dhruv Rathee had published in 2018, where he had alleged that Vikas Sankrityan, also known as Vikas Pandey, was a member of the BJP IT Cell and had tried to bribe some Mahaveer Prasad, who claimed is an ex BJP IT Cell member, with Rs 50 lakh to speak against him.
After the three-part video series was released, Vikas Pandey filed a defamation case against him claiming ₹15 lakh. Rathee had claimed that Mahaveer Prasad had recording of the call where Pandey allegedly bribed him to talk against Rathee. But after Pandey filed a police complaint, Rathee in a follow-up video said that he ‘regrets’ that he didn’t have the recording of ’50 lakh bribe’ offer.
Notably, Vikas Pandey had also sued Arvind Kejriwal for retweeting the videos of Dhruv Rathee. In February this year, the Delhi High Court upheld the suit, declining Kejriwal’s plea to quash the case. In a significant ruling, the court said that retweeting defamatory content does amount to defamation.
After that, Kejriwal told the Supreme Court that he made a mistake by retweeting the defamatory, and was ready to apologise. In August this year, the apex court granted him six weeks of time to file the apology, and stayed the case against him.
