Fresh bailable warrant issued against YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in defamation case

A Delhi court on Saturday issued a fresh bailable warrant against popular YouTuber and social media influencer Dhruv Rathee in a 2018 criminal defamation case. Judicial Magistrate First Class Rahul Jain of Saket Court took this decision. The court issued these fresh warrants after it was found that the previous warrants were sent to a wrong address in Austria instead of Rathee's Gurugram residence.

According to a Hindustan Times report, efforts to execute the previous warrant had failed. During the proceedings, the complainant's advocate informed the court that Dhruv Rathee lives abroad after leaving India. Taking this matter into consideration, the court has now scheduled the next hearing of this case for 23 November.

This defamation case was filed by Vikas Sanskritiyan. This case is related to a video titled "BJP IT Cell Part II" published by Dhruv Rathee on his YouTube channel in May 2018. In this video, Rathee had alleged that members of the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) IT cell tried to bribe him to defame Sanskritiyan. Vikas Sanskritiyan claimed in the court that these allegations were false, malicious, and intentionally aimed at damaging his reputation.

This video became widely discussed in 2018 after it was shared on social media by former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Defamation proceedings were initiated by Sanskritiyan against both Rathee and Kejriwal. Kejriwal later conceded before the court that sharing the video was a mistake, due to which separate proceedings against him were dealt with. However, the original complaint against Dhruv Rathee as the creator and publisher of the video continued in the Saket Court.

Repeated attempts have been made to serve summons to Dhruv Rathee in this case, but difficulties have arisen as he mostly lives abroad. The court first issued a notice on 23 July 2019, but proceedings remained pending due to difficulties faced in ensuring his presence. In the previous hearing held on 12 October, the court issued fresh summons following an urgent application moved by Sanskritiyan to expedite the proceedings.

Complainant's counsel Advocate Samaksh Sharma informed the court that Dhruv Rathee, who generally lives in Germany, was in India at the time to participate in a protest by the 'Cockroach Janata Party' (CJP). The advocate provided an address of Sector 56 in Gurugram, Haryana, where Rathee was believed to have stayed, and demanded necessary steps to ensure the service of summons.