THE BADMINTON ASSOCIATION OF INDIA (‘BAI’) approached the Delhi High Court today seeking urgent action against the circulation of, what it termed as ‘false and misleading content’ on social media platforms and digital news portals, which claimed that around seventy-five judges of the Supreme Court and various High Courts, along with Union ministers including the Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, had travelled to London to participate in a badminton tournament at the taxpayers’ expense.
The matter was mentioned before Justice Tejas Karia by Senior Advocate Apoorv Kurup, counsel for the petitioner, BAI, who sought urgent listing on the ground that the fake content was spreading virally and causing reputational harm to the judiciary as well as to the sport of badminton itself. During the hearings, Justice Karia mulled over the power of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to issue directions against intermediaries to disclose basic subscriber information regarding those who had spread the news.
The petition seeks the takedown of certain YouTube videos, online news portal reports, and posts on X. It also seeks directions to identify the originators of the allegedly false content, initiate proceedings against them, and permanently remove such material from digital platforms. The BAI has also sought guidelines to ensure prompt action against misinformation concerning the judiciary.
