New Delhi, September 10, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
The Delhi High Court on Thursday recorded undertakings by Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) leaders Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka to remove social media posts allegedly carrying an AI-generated graphic that falsely attributed remarks to BJP leader and senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia.
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela was hearing a defamation suit filed by Bhatia seeking Rs 2 crore in damages against CJP, its founder Abhijit Dipke, Das and Ranka over the allegedly defamatory content.
During the hearing, counsel for Das said the tweets in question would be taken down, while Ranka’s counsel told the court that one tweet had already been removed and that the reposted version would also be taken down. The court recorded the undertakings and directed that the posts be removed within 24 hours.
The High Court also issued summons to Das, Ranka, Dipke and CJP and directed them to file their responses in the defamation proceedings.
Bhatia had alleged that the defendants circulated an AI-generated graphic falsely attributing remarks to him concerning Swatantra Bhardwaj, who is accused of assaulting the father of a minor protestor.
According to Bhatia’s suit, the graphic falsely portrayed him as describing Bhardwaj as a “dimagi naxali” and “jaatiwaadi”. Bhatia argued that the posts went beyond criticism or disagreement, as they represented to the public that he had made statements that he had never made.
During an earlier hearing, Justice Gedela had suggested that Das and Ranka consider voluntarily removing the posts. The judge observed that there were different ways of protesting and questioned whether the defendants needed to go to such an extent.
Bhatia told the court that he was a law-abiding citizen and alleged that a manipulated image and a channel’s logo had been used to lend credibility to the content. He also claimed that an “ecosystem” around such posts continued even after the lawsuit was filed.
Bhatia sought a dynamic injunction, arguing that the matter was serious because a fake image was being used to associate his name with a person who had been arrested. The court, however, declined to grant such relief at this stage without hearing the other side, noting that the dispute was not an intellectual property matter.
Bhatia also sought directions to social media platforms to remove the allegedly manipulated content. Justice Gedela asked whether he had approached Meta, noting that platforms have mechanisms for removal of such material and that he could approach the High Court if they failed to act.
Meta’s counsel said the plaint contained only one URL relating to a newspaper report on the incident and submitted that the platform could not proactively censor content.
The court subsequently permitted Bhatia to approach X and Meta if similar or identical posts appeared in the future. The platforms may consider such complaints and take appropriate action, the court said, adding that they could inform Bhatia of any impediment where necessary.
The judge also directed X to place on record the Basic Subscriber Information (BSI) of the accounts concerned within three weeks.
Bhatia had earlier given Das 24 hours to delete the disputed post and issue an unconditional apology. Das subsequently deleted the post and clarified that the graphic was AI-generated, while Ranka allegedly amplified the content by reposting it.
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