Saket Court said the tweets prima facie disclosed cognizable offences under Sections 75(3) and 79 of the BNS and required police investigation.
A Delhi Court on Wednesday, April 22, directed the police to register an FIR against commentator Abhijit Iyer Mitra.
The order came in a complaint case filed by Manisha Pande, Editorial Director of digital news platform Newslaundry.
Pande alleged that Mitra abused her and other women employees of Newslaundry through posts on X, formerly Twitter.
Judicial Magistrate First Class Bhanu Pratap Singh of Saket Courts passed the order on Pande’s plea.
The Court said Mitra’s tweets qualified as “sexually coloured remarks”.
It also observed that the tweets prima facie appeared to insult the modesty of the complainant.
The Court noted that one of the posts had named Pande.
According to the Court, the contents of the tweets disclosed cognizable offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The Court referred to Section 75(3), which deals with sexually coloured remarks, and Section 79, which deals with outraging the modesty of women.
The Court held that police investigation was necessary because the alleged offence took place in cyberspace on X.
It said the police must verify the user account from which the tweets came.
The Court also said the police would have to trace and recover the computer source or electronic device used to publish the tweets.
The Court expressed dissatisfaction with the Action Taken Report filed by PSI Ombir.
It said the report did not consider the tweets mentioned in the complaint.
On this basis, the Court directed the police to register an FIR.
Advocate Bani Dixit appeared for Pande.
On August 13 last year, the Magistrate had directed the SHO of Malviya Nagar Police Station to file an Action Taken Report.
The Court asked whether Pande had filed any complaint at the police station.
It also asked whether the police had received any such complaint and what action they had taken.
Later, in November, the Court granted the SHO a final opportunity to file the ATR.
The police filed the report before the Court on February 18.
The Court then heard the women journalists’ application under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.
The women journalists had earlier filed a defamation suit against Mitra before the Delhi High Court.
They sought a public apology, along with ₹2 crore as damages and compensation.
Before the High Court, they argued that Mitra’s posts on X were libellous, unfounded and misconceived.
They also alleged that he made the posts knowingly and deliberately to harm the dignity and reputation of women employees.
According to the women journalists, Mitra used several posts on X to target them with allegedly derogatory terms and slurs.
They alleged that he referred to them as “prostitute” and described their workplace as a “brothel”.
Earlier, the High Court had pulled up Mitra over the tweets. Mitra later took down the posts in question.
Subsequently, Mitra moved the High Court seeking rejection of the defamation suit.
