Delhi HC Scraps Stay on FIR Against Abhijit Iyer-Mitra Over Remarks on Journalists
New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Wednesday (May 20) set aside the sessions court order, which had stayed FIR against Abhijit Iyer-Mitra over alleged objectionable and sexually-coloured social media posts on Newslaundry's editorial director Manisha Pande and other journalists, Bar and Bench reported.
The case related to a plea filed by Manisha Pande and six other journalists against Iyer-Mitra who allegedly repeatedly referred to them as prostitutes in a series of posts and articles on X.
Justice Girish Kathpalia of the Delhi high court observed that the session’s court order to stay the magistrate court’s direction to register an FIR was not convincing and remanded it back, directing the sessions court to pass a fresh, “reasoned” order within four weeks.
"This kind of stay does not convince. I will remand it back to the Sessions Court to pass a detailed order. You [Iyer-Mitra's lawyers] know arguments were heard. She [Pande and others' counsel] knows arguments were heard. I do not know. I want to understand what went in his [Sessions Judge's] mind to stay the order. I will send it back to pass a reasoned order," Justice Kathpalia said, as quoted by Bar and Bench.
On April 23, Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Bhanu Pratap Singh of the Saket court had ruled in favour of Pande and ordered in FIR, saying Mitra's tweets qualified as “sexually coloured remarks" and were "prime facie" intended to insult the modesty of the complainant, who had been named in one of the tweets.
In a post on X, the journalists argued, Iyer-Mitra had written that “door gaon mein Newslaundry naam ki basti thi jahan r****** sasti thi (In a faraway village, there was a settlement called Newslaundry where prostitutes were cheap)”.
In another tweet, he allegedly made more objectionable remarks about Pande.
The Newslaundry journalists had approached the Delhi high court with a defamation suit. In earlier hearings in the high court, lawyers representing Pande and others, have argued that the remarks amount to a sustained campaign of vilification, causing enormous mental trauma, harassment and embarrassment.
They had sought a permanent injunction, a written apology from Iyer-Mitra and damages up to Rs 2 crore.
The high court had also criticised the remarks saying his “choice of words” were “impermissible in (a) civilised society.” On May 21, 2025, the court had recorded his undertaking to delete the posts.
Mitra, however, appealed the magistrate court’s order before sessions court which stayed it in a preliminary hearing on May 4.
In Wednesday's hearing, senior counsel appearing for the journalists contended that the sessions court passed the stay in an arbitrary manner on the very first day of hearing without giving them an opportunity to be heard.
The court has asked the journalists and Iyer-Mitra to appear before the sessions court on May 22.
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