Posts about CJI, Union ministers taking part in badminton at UK occasion false: Govt to Delhi HC
The Delhi excessive court docket on Friday indicated that the Union authorities was empowered to direct social media intermediaries to behave towards viral posts falsely claiming that Chief Justice of India Surya Kantseveral Supreme Courtroom judges and Union ministers had travelled to London earlier this month to take part in a badminton match at public expense.
Justice Tejas Karia made the oral observations whereas listening to a petition filed by the Badminton Affiliation of India (BAI), which sought elimination of social media content material alleging that a big Indian delegation comprising senior judges and ministers had attended a badminton occasion in the UK. The court docket reserved its order after listening to submissions from the Centre and the petitioner.
Showing for the Union authorities, Solicitor Normal Tushar Mehta informed the court docket that the posts being circulated on social media have been “utterly false and deceptive” and sought to create a fabricated narrative across the go to of sure constitutional functionaries to the UK.
In keeping with the petitioner, the posts claimed that CJI Kant, Supreme Courtroom choose justice Vikram Nath, Union legislation minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju have been amongst those that had participated within the purported match in London.
“The images being circulated aren’t from London in any respect,” the SG knowledgeable the court docket, including that the pictures have been really taken throughout a badminton occasion organised at Delhi’s Thyagaraj Stadium in November 2025.
The Centre additional argued that regardless of efforts to publicly make clear the information, the misinformation marketing campaign continued to unfold on-line, warranting intervention to determine these answerable for originating and amplifying the false claims.
Through the listening to, Justice Karia noticed that social media platforms and intermediaries could possibly be required to furnish primary data on customers answerable for disseminating such content material, whereas emphasising that any additional motion would lie inside the statutory framework administered by the Union authorities.
“The court docket can direct that primary data of all customers be supplied to the IT Ministry. It’s in the end as much as the Union of India to take motion underneath the IT Act. All these firms are both media or intermediaries,” he remarked.
