Delhi court issues bailable warrant to YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in 2018 defamation case

A Delhi court has issued a bailable warrant against Youtuber Dhruv Rathee in a 2018 defamation case filed by Vikas Sankrityayan, alias Vikas Pandey.

The case stems from a video made by Rathee in May 2018 alleging that the Information and Technology cell of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attempted to bribe the complainant Vikas Pandey to defame him.

The video tweeted on Rathee's handle was retweeted by the then Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal. This prompted Pandey to initiate defamation proceedings against both Kejriwal and Rathee.

Judicial Magistrate Rahul Jain of Saket Court was informed today that service of court notice issued earlier was not completed since the premises of Rathee's house was locked.

Hence, the Court proceeded to issue bailable warrant on Rathee and posted the matter for October 31.

On October 12, the Court had allowed an application seeking early hearing and the issuance of dasti (by hand) summons against Rathee.

Advocate Samaksh Sharma for the complainant argued that summons had remained unserved for several years as Rathee primarily resides abroad. However, the court was informed that the YouTuber is currently in India and staying at a residence in Gurugram, Haryana.

The magistrate took note that Rathee was last summoned in 2019 and permitted complainant Pandey to accompany the server to ensure prompt execution of the summons.

However, the Court was told on Saturday that service of notice was not complete prompting the judge to issued bailable warrants.