Dhruv Rathee Summoned: Delhi court issues fresh summons for YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in a decade-old criminal defamation case. The order comes amid reports that earlier summons to the YouTuber have been unsuccessful over the years.
PTI reports that Judicial Magistrate Rahul Jain issued the order on October 12, summoning Rathee at his Gurugram address in Haryana. It was stated that he was previously summoned in July 2019.
The court issued the summon in light of the complainant’s request for new summon since Rathee allegedly returned to India for Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) protests in Delhi. The next hearing is scheduled for October 17, 2026.
The complaint dates back to 2018 when Rathee uploaded a video related to BJP IT Cell to his YouTube channel.
Vikas Pandey, an associate of BJP IT Cell and founder of the social media page “I Support Narendra Modi“, claimed that his honor was being defamed through the video. As per the reports regarding the case, the video mentioned allegations of attempted bribery to smear the image of Pandey and claims that the BJP IT Cell spreads fake news.
In an order dated October 12, the court said, “From the available record, it is clear that the complainant has been trying to serve the accused no. 1 (Rathee) since the last several years…” Appearing for the complainant, Advocate Samaksh Sharma submitted the complaint.
Pandey approached the court over the video, leading to criminal defamation proceedings. These allegations remain part of the case and should not be treated as established findings of fact.
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This new order by the court comes after Pandey’s plea for attempting to serve summons once again. According to reports, his lawyer Samaksh Sharma informed the court that Rathee normally resided in Austria and had visited India to participate in the CJP protests.
The complainant contended that the presence of Rathee in India presented an opportunity to serve the summons timely.
It was accordingly ordered by the court that a fresh summons be served at Rathee’s Gurugram residence. The issuance of a summons is merely a procedure followed in a legal case and is not considered a conviction or any sort of finding in relation to the allegations.
There is a next court appearance scheduled on October 17, 2026. This proceeding would decide what comes next in the long-pending case.
The case has become relevant since it involves the case of a video uploaded in 2018, and the recent development after years of difficulties to serve the summons. In any case, the most important aspect of the case right now is the issue of the new summons and the pending court hearing.
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