Delhi HC orders Centre to take down ‘false’ posts on CJI, ministers playing badminton at UK event

THe new delhi heights margaret court has directed the unification authorities to take down viral posts falsely claiming that Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, several Supreme Court judges and Union ministers had travelled to London earlier this month to participate in a badminton tournament at public expense, observing that such false information brought disrepute to judicial institutions.A vacation bench of justice Tejas Karia on Friday observed that the posts were on the face of it, false, malicious and derogatory to the judiciary, the executive and the sport of badminton.“The continued circulation and dissemination of such content has a direct bearing on the reputation of these institutions and, if not restrained forthwith, is likely to erode public confidence in the justice delivery system,” it observed.The court was hearing a plea filed by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) which sought removal of social media content alleging that a large Indian delegation comprising senior judges and ministers had attended a badminton event in the United Kingdom.Even as the Centre, through Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, argued that the posts being circulated on social media were “completely false and misleading” and sought to create a “fabricated narrative”around the visit, Justice Karia at the outset, indicated that the Union government was empowered to act against such social media intermediaries spreading such information.In its detailed order, made public on Saturday, the court noted that the posts indicated a “systematic misinformation campaign” intended to malign the reputation of the Chief Justice, judges of the Supreme Court and the high courts and Union ministers. “The impugned content does not merely amount to criticism, comment or fair reportage, but appears to be founded on demonstrably incorrect factual assertions, including the circulation of photographs unrelated to the event and the attribution of participation to persons who, on the material placed before this court, were not present at the event.”Justice Karia said the alleged content has also been termed as false and fabricated by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) Fact Check exercise, and in fact, pertained to a badminton tournament held in November 2025 at Thyagaraj Stadium.“The dissemination of such false and misleading information, particularly when directed against constitutional courts, has the potential to cause serious and irreversible injury to public confidence in the justice delivery system,” the court said.The court directed the Centre to issue a notification directing social media intermediaries to take down and block access to false news articles and videos related to the event. Going a step further, the court also directed the intermediaries to preserve and furnish information of uploaders and account operators involved in disseminating the alleged content, to the government which shall take appropriate legal action.