Delhi court stays FIR against Abhijit Iyer-Mitra for social media posts about Newslaundry journalists

A Delhi court on Monday stayed an order directing the registration of a first information report (FIR) against Abhijit Iyer-Mitra for objectionable social media posts against Newslaundry's Manisha Pande and other journalists. .Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Purushottam Pathak of the Saket Court passed the order after Iyer-Mitra filed a revision petition. The Court said that the stay will continue till the court hears the matter next on May 28.“An applicant has also been filed seeking a stay of the impugned order dated 22 April 2026. The order is stayed till the next date of hearing,” the Court ordered. Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Bhanu Pratap Singh had ordered registration of FIR against Iyer-Mitra.Manisha Pande and six other journalists had approached the magistrate court stating that Iyer-Mitra referred to them as prostitutes repeatedly in a series of posts and articles on the social media platform X (Twitter).They argued that in several tweets, Iyer-Mitra wrote that “door gaon mein Newslaundry naam ki basti thi jahan r****** sasti thi". In another tweet, he made objectionable remarks about Pande.The magistrate court said that Iyer-Mitra made sexually coloured remarks against Pande and other journalists and the same were prima facie intended to insult Pande and she was also expressly named in the post. “Therefore, on perusal of the application and the material placed on record by the complainant, this Court is of the view that the content of the tweets posted by the accused on “X” platform discloses commission of cognizable offences under section 75(3) and 79 of BNS,” the order said..It further ordered,“This Court is of the view that police investigation is necessary as the offence has been committed in cyber space on platform "X". Therefore, police investigation is necessary to verify the user account on platform "X" from which the said tweets were published. Further police investigation is also necessary to trace and recover the computer source/electronic device from which the said tweets were published. This Court is also of the view that the Action Taken Report which was filed by PSI Ombir in the present case is not satisfactory as the above stated tweets were not considered in the report.".Iyer-Mitra then moved the sessions court against the same..Senior Advocate Percival Billimoria and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai appeared for Iyer-Mitra today and argued that there is a history to the dispute between Newslaundry and Iyer-Mitra. It was stated that Mitra's comments came in the backdrop of Newslaundry allegedly defending child rape.The Court was shown certain cartoons of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and author and scientist Anand Ranganathan. It was stated that the cartoons were shown by Newslaundry, and they depict Ranganthan engaging in an act of sexual pleasure. "They have one set of rules for themselves and another for others. They use the filthiest sexually coloured commentary," Iyer-Mitra's lawyers argued before the Court.The grant of the interim order was opposed by Newslaundry journalists' lawyer Bani Dikshit. She argued that Iyer-Mitra has deliberately chosen to challenge the magistrate's order after nearly 10 days because the matter is listed today for compliance before the magistrate.Dikshit added that Iyer-Mitra's counsel was misleading the Court and that the Delhi High Court has itself remarked that an FIR should be registered against Iyer-Mitra.However, the Court said that if it does not stay the order, Iyer-Mitra's plea would become infructuous. Therefore, the Court passed the interim stay order. It also issued notices to the Delhi Police and Newslaundry journalists.