The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the Indian National Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to take down within 24 hours all social media posts that link BJP national secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam to the 2022 Ankita Bhandari murder case.
Justice Mini Pushkarna, while passing an interim order on Gautam’s defamation suit, also restrained both political parties from making any further statements or posts accusing Gautam of being the unnamed “VIP” allegedly involved in the case.
The court said Gautam had established a prima facie case and that if such defamatory content remained online, it could cause “irreparable injury” to his reputation. The court clarified that if the political parties fail to comply, the respective social media platforms must remove the content in accordance with the law and platform policies.
The interim order also applies to other individuals and organisations, including actor and activist Urmila Sanawar and the Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee, who were named as respondents in the case.
The controversy stems from recent posts and a viral audio clip released by Urmila Sanawar, who claims to be the wife of former BJP MLA Suresh Rathore. In the clip, she makes unverified references to a “VIP” allegedly connected to the murder of Ankita Bhandari, a 19-year-old receptionist at the Vanantra Resort in Uttarakhand’s Pauri district. The resort owner, Pulkit Arya—son of a former BJP leader—and two staffers were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for Bhandari’s murder.
Gautam, in his suit, contended that baseless and politically motivated allegations were being circulated to defame him and damage his public image.
The case will now proceed to the next stage after the interim relief.
