The Delhi High Court on Friday noted that the Union government is empowered to direct social media facilitators to act against viral posts falsely claiming that Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and several Supreme Court judges and Union ministers had traveled to London earlier this month to participate in a badminton tournament at public expense.
Justice Tejas Karia made the oral observations while hearing the petition filed by the Badminton Association of India (BAI), in which it sought the removal of social media content alleging that a large Indian delegation comprising senior judges and ministers had attended a badminton event in the UK. The court reserved its order after hearing the submissions of the Center and the complainant.
While appearing before the Union government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the court that the posts being circulated on social media were “completely false and misleading” and sought to create a fabricated narrative about the visit of some constitutional functionaries to the UK.
According to the petitioner, the posts claimed that CJI Kant, Supreme Court judge Justice Vikram Nath, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju were among those who participated in the alleged tournament in London.
“The pictures being circulated are not from London at all,” the chief secretary told the court, adding that the pictures were actually taken during a badminton event organized at Delhi’s Thyagaraj Stadium in November 2025.
The center also said that despite efforts to publicly clarify the facts, the disinformation campaign continued to spread online, warranting intervention to identify those responsible for creating and amplifying false claims.
During the hearing, Justice Karia observed that social media platforms and intermediaries may be asked to provide basic information about the users responsible for posting such content, while stressing that any further action would fall within the legal framework administered by the Union government.
“The court can order that basic information of all users be provided to the Ministry of Information Technology. It is ultimately up to the Indian Federation to take action under the IT Act. All these companies are either media outlets or intermediaries,” he pointed out.
