New Delhi, October 17 (H.S.): A Delhi court has issued a bailable warrant against YouTuber Dhruv Rathee in a 2018 defamation case and directed him to appear before the court on October 31. Judicial Magistrate First Class Rahul Jain ordered the issuance of the warrant after Rathee failed to appear for the hearing on Friday.

During the hearing, the court was informed that the latest summons issued to Rathee had been served, but his premises were found locked. Attempts were subsequently made to contact him by telephone, but he allegedly refused to accept the notice. The summons was then affixed outside his residence.

On October 12, the court had advanced the hearing in the case, which was originally scheduled for November 20, and directed that it be taken up on October 17. The court observed that the complainant had been attempting to serve summons on Rathee for several years and directed that fresh summons be sent to his residence in Gurugram.

During the proceedings, Saksham Sharma, appearing on behalf of complainant Vikas Pandey, submitted that Rathee generally resides in Austria and had travelled to India in connection with protests held in Delhi by the Cockroach Janata Party.

The court also noted that summons had first been issued to Rathee in July 2019 and that the complainant had repeatedly sought their service.

The case arises from a criminal defamation complaint filed by Vikas Sankrityayan, also known as Vikas Pandey, who has alleged that Rathee uploaded a defamatory video and circulated it online.

According to the complainant, Rathee, who is based in Germany, uploaded and circulated a video titled “BJP IT Cell Part 2”, which allegedly contained several false allegations against him. The video purportedly claimed that the BJP IT Cell had bribed Vikas Pandey.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar