Delhi High Court urges Sanju Verma to withdraw "blot on uniform" remark against ex-IPS Yashovardhan Azad

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said that BJP spokesperson Sanju Verma cannot call ex-IPS officer Yashovardhan Jha Azad a "blot on the uniform" and urged her to withdraw the remark made on social media [Yashovardhan Azad v. Sanju Verma].

Justice Amit Bansal said that while Verma can criticise Azad for his views, she cannot cast aspersions on his career and public life. 

The Court asked Verma's counsel Raghav Awasthi to persuade her to remove the comment.

"You cannot put aspersion on somebody’s career and public life. There is no basis to say that... According to me, you should advise your client to remove that part. I will deal with all the objections. Are you willing to talk to your client about this part or not? You take instructions. There is no problem in a TV debate, you said he is so and so's brother, but raising aspersions on someone while he was an officer is wrong," the Court remarked.

Ultimately, the Court issued notice to Verma on Azad's defamation case and asked Awasthi to speak to her client.

The case is listed on January 27, 2026.

Azad is a retired IPS officer, former Special Director in India’s Intelligence Bureau and ex-Central Information Commissioner. 

The dispute between him and Verma goes back to June and July 2025, when the latter took part in a news debate on India Today on the Kolkata rape case. During the debate, she said that Azad had failed to name West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in his comments on the rape and alluded that it was because he is the brother of Kirti Azad, a Member of Parliament from the Trinamool Congress (TMC). She later posted the debate video on Twitter (X).

A back-and-forth followed between the two on Twitter and while replying to one of the comments, she said,

"Absolutely...what a blot this man must have been on the uniform."

Today, Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appeared for Azad and stated that Azad talked about the rape in Kolkata, but Verma started asking him why he was not disclosing that he was Kirti Azad's brother and why he failed to name Mamata Banerjee.

Meanwhile, Awasthi stated that Verma's tweets go back to June and that Azad has failed to avail the remedy available under the Information Technology Rules 2021. He added that Verma's comments came in a context which has not been disclosed in the suit and that Azad made personal comments against her as well.

Awasthi stressed that even though Azad is not a politician, he is a media personality and that he will file a reply to the plea for interim relief.

After hearing the submissions briefly, Justice Bansal said that Verma should remove the "blot on uniform" comment.