A Delhi court has directed police to register a First Information Report (FIR) against political commentator Abhijit Iyer-Mitra for allegedly making sexually coloured remarks and outraging the modesty of women journalists at the digital news platform Newslaundry on the social media site X.
Judicial Magistrate First Class Bhanu Pratap Singh of the Saket Courts passed the order on 22 April 2026 on a complaint filed by Newslaundry’s Editorial Director Manisha Pande and other women journalists.
The court held that Iyer-Mitra’s tweets prima facie amounted to “sexually coloured remarks” under Section 75(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and offences under Section 79 (insulting the modesty of a woman). It noted that the posts named Pande specifically and were intended to insult her modesty.
“On perusal of the application and the material placed on record by the complainant, this Court is of the view that the content of the tweets posted by the accused on ‘X’ platform discloses commission of cognizable offences,” the order stated. The magistrate added that a police investigation was necessary because the offences occurred in cyberspace. Police must verify the user account and trace the computer source or electronic device used to post the tweets.
The court also criticised an earlier Action Taken Report filed by police as unsatisfactory, noting that it failed to consider the specific tweets in question.
Pande and six or more other women journalists from Newslaundry alleged that Abhjit Iyer-Mitra repeatedly referred to them as “prostitutes” and described their workplace as a “brothel” or “basti” in a series of posts on X. One example cited was: “door gaon mein Newslaundry naam ki basti thi jahan r****** sasti thi.”
The journalists had previously approached the Delhi High Court with a separate defamation suit, seeking a public apology and ₹2 crore in damages. In May 2025, the High Court criticised Iyer-Mitra’s language and he undertook to delete the offending posts. That civil suit remains pending.
