Delhi Court Fines NDTV Anchor Gargi Rawat Rs 10,000 for Liking Defamatory Tweet Against Abhijit Iyer-Mitra

A Delhi court has directed NDTV anchor Gargi Rawat to pay ₹10,000 to defence analyst Abhijit Iyer-Mitra after holding her liable for defamation for “liking” a tweet that accused him of rape.

District Judge Satyabrata Panda of Patiala House Courts passed the order on September 8 in the defamation suit filed by Iyer-Mitra against Rawat and Mumbai-based lawyer Dushyant Arora.

Iyer-Mitra had originally sought ₹20 lakh in damages. However, the Court reduced the amount to ₹10,000, noting that he himself has often courted controversy by making “objectionable and derogatory comments” on social media.

The case dates back to December 2019 when Iyer-Mitra wrote an article in The Print on journalist Rana Ayyub. After Ayyub called the piece a “hitjob” on Twitter, Arora replied, claiming Iyer-Mitra had been accused of rape and indulged in hate speech. Rawat had “liked” this tweet, which, the Court observed, made it visible on her profile.

While Arora later apologised and settled the matter with Iyer-Mitra, the case continued against Rawat. The Court held that liking a defamatory tweet amounts to “republication,” and therefore she was liable.

Rawat had argued that she was unfairly singled out since many others also liked, retweeted, or commented on the post. The Court, however, rejected this defence.

The judge ordered Rawat to delete the tweet if it still appears on her Twitter/X profile and pay damages within two weeks. If not paid in time, the amount will attract 6% annual interest until cleared.