A Delhi court has issued fresh summons to YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in a criminal defamation case filed in 2018, directing that the notice be served at his address in Gurugram, Haryana.
Judicial Magistrate First Class Rahul Jain passed the order on October 12 at the Saket court after hearing an application filed by Vikas Sankrityayan, also known as Vikas Pandey, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s IT Cell.
The court noted that Rathee had initially been summoned in July 2019 and that the complainant had been trying to serve him for several years.
The matter is scheduled for further hearing on October 17.
Court Allows Fresh and Dasti Summons
Advocate Samaksh Sharma, appearing for Pandey, sought fresh summons, arguing that service had been delayed because Rathee ordinarily resides in Austria, where he has reportedly lived for the past seven years.
The counsel also told the court that Rathee was currently in India in connection with protests organised by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) in Delhi.
According to the application, the complainant had information that Rathee was residing at an address in Sector 56, Gurugram.
After considering the submissions, the court directed that fresh summons be issued to Rathee at the address provided by the complainant. It also allowed the request for dasti summons, which permits the complainant to take the court-issued summons for service in accordance with the law.
The court directed the complainant to file the process fee within two days and instructed the court staff to issue the process on a daily basis.
The October 12 order records the issuance of fresh and dasti summons. Whether the summons has been served is to be confirmed through the court’s records.
Case Over ‘BJP IT Cell Part 2’ Video
The defamation complaint relates to Rathee’s YouTube video titled “BJP IT Cell Part 2”, which discussed Pandey and his alleged links to the BJP’s IT Cell.
The complaint alleges that the video contained defamatory claims about Pandey. Among the allegations discussed in the complaint was that Pandey had offered Rs 50 lakh to Mahavir Prasad to withdraw allegations concerning the circulation of false information about the BJP’s IT Cell.
These claims form part of the complainant’s case and have not been established as facts by the court in the proceedings described in the October 12 order.
Pandey, who is associated with the social media page ‘I Support Narendra Modi’, initiated the criminal defamation proceedings in 2018.
Proceedings Continue After Kejriwal’s Apology
The case also involved former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had retweeted Rathee’s video. Kejriwal tendered an apology before the Supreme Court in February 2024 for sharing it.
However, the proceedings against Rathee, as the original creator of the video, continued before the magistrate’s court.
The latest order concerns the service of summons on Rathee and does not decide the merits of the defamation allegations. The court is expected to take up the matter again on October 17, 2026.
