Delhi court issues fresh bailable warrant against Dhruv Rathee in 2018 defamation case over YouTube video

A Delhi court today (17 October) issued bailable warrants against YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in a 2018 defamation case against him over a video he posted on his channel. The case was filed by Vikas Sanskrityayan over Rathee's video titled 'BJP IT Cell Part II'. 

Judicial Magistrate First Class South East Rahul Jain issued the fresh warrants on Saturday after the court was informed that Rathee's house was found to be locked during an attempt to serve an earlier summons notice, Bar and Bench reported.

The court has listed the matter for further proceedings on 31 October, while a detailed order is awaited.

What is the case against Rathee?

The case pertains to a complaint filed by Sanskrityayan, which alleges that Rathee posted a video which was allegedly defamatory in nature. The complaint alleges that the video was published and circulated by Rathee made several false allegations against the complainant, according to Bar and Bench.

The judge had, earlier this week, issued fresh summons to Rathee after the complainant had moved an application seeking preponement of the matter, which had earlier been listed for 20 November.

The preponement was sought on the ground that Rathee, who lives in Germany, was currently in India for the protests against Chief Election Commissioner and the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise.

Advocate Samaksh Sharma, appearing for the complainant, had submitted that Rathee ordinarily resides in Austria and had come to India for the Cockroach Janta Party protest. The court then noted that Rathee had initially been summoned in the matter in 2019, PTI news agency reported

The fresh summons was issued on 12 October, with the court directing them to be served to Rathee at his residence in Gurugram, Haryana.