Delhi HC Orders Abhijit Iyer-Mitra To Delete Defamatory Posts On Newslaundry, Its Female Journalists

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued a stern warning to political commentator Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, stating that it would order an FIR against him if he failed to remove allegedly defamatory posts targeting Newslaundry Executive Editor Manisha Pande and eight other female journalists.

The court granted him a deadline of five hours to comply.

Photo Credit: x.com/Iyervval

The posts, made on X between February and May 2025, were described by the court as "not permissible in any civilised society."

Though the bench was inclined to issue an interim order, it held off after Iyer-Mitra's counsel assured the court that the posts would be deleted within the stipulated time.

The observations were made by a single-judge bench during the hearing of a civil defamation suit brought by the journalists.

The petitioners alleged that Iyer-Mitra had referred to them as "prostitutes" and described their organisation, Newslaundry, as a "brothel." They are seeking a written apology and ₹2 crore in damages.

The court remarked during the proceedings: "These kind of languages, whatever may be background, can these kind of language against women be permissible in the society?"

The judge further warned, "We perhaps as a constitutional court, may direct suo motu registration of a criminal FIR against the defendant and take him into custody," and asked, "If this is the kind of language, then why are you not removing it?"

The court expressed displeasure that the posts in question had not yet been taken down despite the nature of the content and prior legal notice.

Appearing on behalf of Iyer-Mitra, advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai said his client had matters he wished to raise, but acknowledged that "the choice of words could have been avoided."

Dehadrai assured the court that the offensive content would be removed within five hours.

Iyer-Mitra deletes post

Abhijit Iyer-Mitra deleted the contentious X post immediately after the court order.

His X post read, "I have full faith in the Hon'ble Delhi High Court. They have asked me to take down my poetic tweets about NewsLaundry. I am complying with said order in deference to the Court."

He further went ahead with his tirade against Newslaundry in the same post: "The Hon'ble court has not gotten into the defamation aspect yet, where I will expose these NL charlatans for what they are. It is curious of course that the lawyers for NL only focused on my poetic tweets & entirely avoided the tweets where I have repeatedly questioned NL's dubious funding and journalistic integrity."