YouTuber Dhruv Rathee Gets Delhi Court Summons In Case Over 2018 'BJP IT Cell' Video

A Delhi court has served fresh summons to YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in a criminal defamation case filed in 2018 by a man called Vikas Pandey over a video titled 'BJP IT Cell Part 2'. The summons has been physically served at Rathee's residence in Gurugram, as he is in India to participate in the ongoing protests over alleged electoral fraud.

Judicial Magistrate Rahul Jain of the Saket District Court passed the order on October 12. The matter will next be heard on October 17. Advocate Samaksh Sharma, appearing for Pandey, told the court that Rathee ordinarily resides in Austria and had come to India for the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests in Delhi. Sharma said fresh summons were needed so that prompt steps for service could be taken.

The summons came days after Rathee was detained at his Gurugram home to deter him from participating in the CJP protest called at Jantar Mantar. Around 50 police personnel arrived at his residence in Sector 56 and detained him on October 10. Delhi Police said the action was preventive, citing the lack of permission for the protest in Delhi. The protest is being held over alleged irregularities in electoral rolls and demands the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Rathee had participated in a CJP protest in Bengaluru two days before his detention.

In an Instagram video posted on Wednesday, Rathee also alleged that plainclothes police in unmarked cars followed him after he left his Gurugram home. He claimed that the police were tracking his movements and threatening to detain him again if he approached the protest site, ahead of another planned demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar at Jantar Mantar on October 16. Delhi Police have not responded to the allegation.

As for the pending case, Vikas Pandey, who founded the social media page 'I Support Narendra Modi', said Rathee's video claimed he (Pandey) was part of the BJP IT cell and had offered Rs 50 lakh through a middleman to one Mahavir Prasad to withdraw allegations that the organisation spreads fake news.

Pandey also filed a complaint against Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, who was then Delhi chief minister, for having re-shared the video on X (then Twitter) in 2018. The Delhi High Court refused to quash the summons against Kejriwal, as Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma observed that "the large social media following of a Chief Minister of a State undoubtedly implies a wider reach, making any retweet, a form of public endorsement or acknowledgement". Kejriwal challenged the order in the Supreme Court. On February 26, 2024, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta stayed the trial court proceedings against him. "I can say this much that I made a mistake by re-tweeting," Kejriwal's lawyer told the SC. Proceedings against Rathee continued.

(With inputs from IANS, PTI)