A Delhi court on Tuesday summoned three Congress leaders—Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera, and Ragini Nayak—in a criminal defamation case filed by India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma. The summons requires them to reply to charges under Sections 465 (forgery), 471 (using a forged document or electronic record), 499, and 500 (criminal defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.
Judicial Magistrate First Class Devanshi Janmeja of Saket Court, in her order, said, "There exist sufficient grounds to summon the accused persons Ragini Nayak, Pawan Khera, and Jairam Ramesh on July 27, 2026."
The complaint relates to false allegations by Congress leader Ragini Nayak in June, 2024 against Rajat Sharma, wherein he was accused on social media and in press interactions of having used derogatory language against her during a live television debate. Rajat Sharma contended that the allegations were false and were supported by a tampered video with superimposed captions that were not part of the original broadcast. As per the complaint filed by the India TV Chairman and Editor-in-Chief, the allegedly manipulated video was circulated on X by Nayak and further amplified by Pawan Khera and Jairam Ramesh, leading to reputational harm and personal distress.
'No abusive or objectionable language was used by Rajat Sharma', says court
The court noted that the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) reports indicated visible post-production alterations, including added titles and captions, in the videos uploaded by the accused and witnesses present during the live broadcast testified that no abusive or objectionable language was used by the complainant.
In an earlier order in a related civil suit, the Delhi High Court found no prima facie abusive language and directed the removal of the impugned social media posts.
The court says, "Having regard to all the material placed on record by the complainant, it prima facie appears that the accused persons have acted in unison to tarnish the image of the complainant (Rajat Sharma) by projecting that the complainant had uttered the invective against Accused No. 1 (Ragini Nayak). It appears that the accused persons, by their spoken words and publications made on X, which were intended to be read, have made defamatory imputations against the complainant, knowing and intending to harm the reputation of the complainant. Needless to say, nothing in this order shall be tantamount to an expression on the final merits of this case, as the same is matter of trial."
Background of the case
The matter relates to June 4, 2024, the day of counting of results for the Lok Sabha elections, when Rajat Sharma was hosting a show on India TV. During the show, he was praising the Congress party by saying, "Even if Congress gets 90 seats, it will be considered a victory for them, and if BJP gets 290 seats, it might be considered a defeat for them."
On this, the Congress spokesperson, Ragini Nayak, twisted Rajat Sharma's remark, saying that he was making a remark against the Congress party. To this, Rajat Sharma responded on the show that he does not wish to argue with her. He clarified that he was speaking about the Congress party's victory only.
In his deposition, Rajat Sharma said nearly 6.7 crore people were watching the live telecast of this show, and no one raised any objection or complaint about any abusive language used by him on the show.
On June 10, six days after the show, at 11:06 pm, Ragini Nayak posted a tweet on X wherein she alleged that Rajat Sharma had abused her, and along with her tweet, she posted a video in which an invective was superimposed on the anchor's voice to imply that the same was part of the original live telecast.
Accused No. 2 Pawan Khera, then retweeted Ragini Nayak's tweet at about 11:17 pm the same night, describing it as condemnable and alleging that Rajat Sharma used abusive language against a lady politician.
The next morning, on June 11, at around 8 am, accused No. 3, Jairam Ramesh, retweeted the false and fabricated tweet of Ragini Nayak stating that the complainant may have his own political proclivities; however, he should not have abused the lady Congress spokesperson and should issue an unconditional apology to her.
In his deposition, Rajat Sharma stated that he was shocked by the allegations, asserting that he had never used abusive language on the show. He further said he could clearly see through Ragini Nayak's claim on Twitter that she had obtained the video from India TV's "raw footage," pointing out that no such raw footage exists for a live broadcast. Rajat Sharma deposed that Ragini Nayak had instead superimposed text on footage telecast by India TV to fabricate a false document. He further stated that he later learned that the accused, Ragini Nayak and Pawan Khera, had scheduled a press conference on the issue at noon on June 11.
When Rajat Sharma's legal team sent a letter to all the accused persons stating that the allegations they have levelled against him are false, baseless, and defamatory, the accused persons announced the cancellation of the press conference.
Subsequently, on June 11, 2024, at 5 pm, Ragini Nayak addressed a press conference, where she repeated the same false allegations. Ragini Nayak then posted the footage of the press conference on Twitter along with copies of her complaint, repeating the allegations and stating that Rajat Sharma has now threatened her. Thereafter, people on social media started commenting and used denigrating words against Rajat Sharma.
