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The Delhi High Court has ordered taking down of reports which claimed that Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, along with Union Minister of Law Arjun Ram Meghwal and other judges of the Supreme Court and various High Courts, attended a badminton event in London this month terming them “misleading and intended to disparage the reputation of the Judiciary.”
A Single Judge Bench of Justice Tejas Karia said, “photographs pertaining to the Badminton tournament held in November 2025 at Thyagaraj Stadium, New Delhi, have been misrepresented as photographs from the Event. The questioning of judicial independence based on such false and misleading content is wholly unsupported by any factual or evidentiary foundation.”
The interim order said, “the impugned content does not merely amount to criticism, comment or fair reportage, but appears to be founded on demonstrably incorrect factual assertions, including the circulation of photographs unrelated to the Event and the attribution of participation to persons who, on the material placed before this Court, were not present at the Event. The dissemination of such false and misleading information, particularly when directed against Constitutional Courts, has the potential to cause serious and irreversible injury to public confidence in the justice delivery system.”
The High Court said it “is…satisfied that strong case is made out for issuance of urgent directions in respect of the Impugned Content.”
It asked the government “to forthwith issue an appropriate Notification under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Rules framed thereunder or any other applicable law, in terms of the present Order, directing all concerned intermediaries, including social media intermediaries, significant social media intermediaries, search engines, web-hosting platforms, digital media platforms, internet service providers and other online service providers, to take down, remove, block, disable, de-index and restrict access to the Impugned Content, including fake and fabricated news, articles, videos and related material featuring or purporting to depict the alleged participation, association or involvement of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, Hon’ble Judges of the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts, and Hon’ble Union Ministers in the 2nd International Bar & Bench Badminton Championship held in London on 07.06.2026, together with any identical, mirrored, modified, edited, clipped, reproduced, re-uploaded, derivative or substantially similar versions thereof, by specifying the URLs including the URLs contained in Annexure-A to this Order, within 24 hours of receipt of the Notification.”
It also asked all recipients of the Notification to “also preserve and furnish, in
a password-protected document or sealed cover, the Basic Subscriber Information and other relevant information available in respect of the uploaders or account operators disseminating the Impugned Content, including name, address, contact details, e-mail addresses, bank details, IP logs and allied records, within one week of receipt of the Notification to the Respondents, who shall initiate appropriate legal action against them in accordance with law”.
The HC also asked the respondents to “also issue a Notification in terms of this Order to all uploaders, news portals, bloggers, account holders and other concerned persons, directing them to take down the Impugned Content and restraining them from uploading, publishing, hosting, communicating to the public, circulating, distributing, posting, tweeting, sharing, reproducing, transmitting or otherwise disseminating or making available, directly or indirectly, the Impugned Content or any identical, mirrored, modified, edited, clipped, reproduced, re-uploaded, derivative or substantially similar version thereof on any platform, website, social media account, channel, handle, application or medium whatsoever.”
The order came on a petition by the Badminton Association of India which contended that the reports about the CJI, Law Minister and other judges of the SC and High Courts participating in the event held in London were “incorrect, malicious and motivated, and were calculated to scandalise and lower the dignity of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India and the Hon’ble Judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts in the estimation of the public.”
It said the “event was a bona fide and professionally organised international Badminton event spearheaded by Ms. Abantika Deka, a former international Badminton player of repute and founder of Deka Events.”
Appearing for the centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta and Additional Solicitor General told the Court that the photographs circulated on social media depicting the CJI and ministers playing Badminton in London ‘are misleading” and “were taken when a national level Bar and Bench Badminton tournament was held on 29.11.2025 at Thyagraj Stadium, New Delhi” in which “Judges and lawyers from various High Courts participated.”
