Rajdeep Sardesai challenges Delhi High Court interim order in Shazia Ilmi defamation case

Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai has filed an appeal challenging an order passed by a single judge of the Delhi High Court, by which he was ordered to take down an allegedly defamatory 18-second video clip which showed an altercation between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shazia Ilmi and an India Today journalist..Justice Manmeet Singh Arora had ordered the takedown of this 18-second video clip, which involved footage of Ilmi after she withdrew from a debate with India Today.In an April 4 order, the single judge held that such a video recording violated Ilmi's right to privacy and cannot remain online. In doing so, the judge confirmed an interim order passed in August 2024. At the time, the Court also imposed ₹25,000 as costs on Ilmi for suppressing certain tweets. Sardesai has now challenged the single judge's directives against him, on the ground that Ilmi had suppressed facts. The matter was listed before a Bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Renu Bhatnagar today. .Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar appeared for Sardesai and said that the single-judge had relied on a truncated video while passing the interim order. However, the Court was not inclined to hear the matter today, and said it would hear the case on July 2. "Why has it come on the last day (the High Court closes for its vacations today)? We will have it in July," Justice Chawla said. The Court also allowed Sardesai to place relevant videos on record by way of a pendrive. .The order under challenge was issued on a defamation suit filed by Ilmi against Sardesai and the India Today video journalist.The case concerns a July 26, 2024, debate hosted by Sardesai on India Today, for which Ilmi was invited to speak. She attended the debate remotely, from her home.During the show, Sardesai and Ilmi clashed after she tried to intervene when Major General (Retired) Yash Mor was pointing out the shortcomings in the Agnipath scheme. As Ilmi intervened, Sardesai said that the former General was putting forth “hard facts." A heated argument followed between Sardesai and Ilmi for several minutes, after which Ilmi left the show.That same night, Ilmi posted a tweet on her X account accusing Sardesai of bringing down her fader (volume) on the show.“Remember I have been on both the sides and know how to handle bullies like you. BTW it doesn’t behove political propagandists masquerading as journalists to sermonise,” she posted.The next morning, Sardesai shared a video on his X account alleging that Ilmi had abused the India Today video journalist present at her home. Sardesai claimed that after Ilmi decided to withdraw from the debate, she threw a mic at the Journalist and threw him out of her house.Ilmi replied that it was her privacy that was violated as the India Today journalist continued to shoot the video even after she had withdrawn from the show. She then filed a defamation suit before the High Court.In August 2024, the Court passed an interim order directing Sardesai to take down the video uploaded by him on his personal account. This direction was confirmed by the High Court's April 4, 2025 order..Later, on April 9, the Court also issued contempt of court notices to X users who had uploaded this clip in violation of court orders. It further directed X to share the basic subscriber information (BSI) details of such persons. X filed an application seeking a modification of this direction to disclose BSI details. However, earlier this month, Justice Arora rejected this plea and directed the X Corp to provide the BSI details within 36 hours..The judge also took exception to the continued violation of its April 4 takedown order by X users."It was surprising that people were using the judgment and video together. It was a mockery of the judgment," the Court said.At the request of X, the Court, however, kept open the question of how far the privacy of X users whose BSI has been sought should be preserved. This matter was scheduled to be heard next on August 29. .Senior Advocate Rajiv Nayar with Advocates Hrishikesh Baruah and Utkarsh Dwivedi appeared for Sardesai. Advocates Nattasha Garg, Thakur Ankit Singh and Anubhav Dubey appeared for Ilmi.[Read Order].[Read Live Coverage of today's hearing]