'Trial by Public Opinion, not a Court of Law': HC pulls up Richa Chadha & Media Houses for Branding Man 'Molester' before FIR was even filed

In a stinging rebuke to unchecked digital vigilantism, the Delhi High Court has stepped in to protect the reputation and fair trial rights of a man publicly labelled a "molester" across social media and mainstream news platforms, all before any court had returned a finding of guilt, or even commenced a formal inquiry. Justice Vikas Mahajan, hearing a defamation suit filed by the accused against an independent journalist, actor Richa Chadha, X Corp, Meta, Google, NDTV Hindi, ABP Live, OBNews, Pardafaash Media, and IndiGo Airlines, issued an interim order directing the removal of defamatory content, a ruling that carries urgent implications for how allegations of sexual misconduct are amplified in the age of social media.

The dispute traces back to March 11, when a Delhi-Mumbai IndiGo flight became the flashpoint of a public storm. A female independent journalist accused a fellow passenger of inappropriate conduct mid-flight, allegations the man categorically denied, asserting he remained seated and was asleep before landing. What transformed a private allegation into a reputational catastrophe was not the filing of an FIR, that came later, at 12:27 PM, but the journalist's own social media post at 9:39 AM, which named the man, disclosed his photograph, and revealed his employer's identity, all before criminal law had even been set in motion.

The post rapidly caught fire across platforms, Richa Chadha amplified it to her massive following with the charged caption "Make him famous," triggering a cascade of coverage across prominent media houses that went well beyond reporting the FIR's contents and crossed into pronouncing guilt.

Justice Mahajan found that the media narratives had decisively overstepped the boundaries of responsible reportage, effectively conducting a trial by public opinion in place of a court of law. On the journalist's pre-FIR disclosure, the Court was unsparing, holding that "the overhasty public disclosure, prima facie, suggests an attempt to sensationalize the issue and subject the plaintiff to a trial by public opinion, rather than a bona fide pursuit of legal redress." Turning to Chadha, the Court underscored that public figures carry an elevated legal and moral duty of verification before wielding their platforms, finding that her endorsement of unverified allegations had inflicted "immediate, exponential, and incalculable harm" on the plaintiff's reputation.

The Court accordingly directed the journalist, OBNews, and Pardafaash Media to cease publishing similar allegations, and ordered all social media platforms to pull down the offending content, including Chadha's repost.