The Delhi High Court has directed the Union Government to take down online fake news content which claimed that the Chief Justice of India, Supreme Court and High Court judges, and Union Law Ministers participated in a Badminton Championship held in London on June 7, 2026, holding that the material was "ex-facie false, malicious and derogatory" to the judiciary and other institutions.

The Court also restrained the members of the public from uploading, publishing, circulating, sharing or otherwise disseminating such content on any social media platform, search engine, web-hosting platform, digital media platform or other online media or platform.

Justice Tejas Karia passed the order on a petition filed by the Badminton Association of India (BAI), which sought the removal of news reports, social media posts, videos and other publications that published the fake news.

"It is clear that the information disseminated through the Impugned Content is misleading and intended to disparage the reputation of the Judiciary....The questioning of judicial independence based on such false and misleading content is wholly unsupported by any factual or evidentiary foundation," Justice Karia observed.

The bench held that the content does not amount to criticism, comment or fair reportage, but was founded on demonstrably incorrect factual assertions. "The dissemination of such false and misleading information, particularly when directed against Constitutional Courts, has the potential to cause serious and irreversible injury to public confidence in the justice delivery system," the Court noted.

The BAI contended that several media reports, YouTube videos, social media posts and a statement issued by the All India Lawyers Union falsely suggested that the Chief Justice of India and more than 100 sitting judges had travelled to London along with Union Law Ministers for a badminton tournament, thereby compromising judicial independence. According to the petitioner, these allegations were based on factually incorrect information and distorted photographs.

Appearing for the Union Government, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the photographs circulating on social media were not from London but from a national-level Bar and Bench badminton tournament held at Thyagaraj Stadium in New Delhi on November 29, 2025. He stated that the photographs showed a ceremonial opening match played by the then Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant, Justice Vikram Nath, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju.

The Solicitor General further informed the Court that the Chief Justice of India had never participated in any badminton tournament or sports event in London. He submitted that the CJI was in London on an official visit during June 2026, where he attended engagements with the UK Supreme Court and delivered addresses on arbitration law and artificial intelligence. He also clarified that neither Meghwal nor Rijiju had travelled to London during the relevant period and that only two judges of the Allahabad High Court had visited London in their personal capacity.

The Court noted that both the Press Information Bureau's Fact Check Unit and the Ministry of Law and Justice had issued clarifications stating that claims about judges and ministers attending the London badminton event were false and that old photographs from the 2025 Delhi tournament were being misrepresented as photographs from the London event.

Observing that the impugned content formed part of a "systematic misinformation campaign" intended to malign the reputation of the Chief Justice of India and other judges, the Court held that the publications were not fair criticism or reportage but were founded on demonstrably incorrect factual assertions. It said the dissemination of such material had the potential to cause serious and irreversible injury to public confidence in the justice delivery system.

"The impugned content is ex-facie false, malicious and derogatory to the Judiciary, the Executive and the sport of Badminton," the Court observed, adding that its continued circulation was likely to erode public confidence in the justice delivery system.

The Court directed the Government to issue appropriate notifications under the Information Technology Act requiring intermediaries, social media platforms, search engines, web-hosting services and digital media platforms to remove, block, de-index and restrict access to the impugned content and substantially similar material within 24 hours.

It also directed intermediaries to preserve and furnish subscriber details, including names, addresses, contact information, email addresses, bank details and IP logs of those responsible for uploading the content, so that appropriate legal action may be initiated in accordance with law.

The matter has been listed for compliance on July 17, 2026.

Case : Badminton Association of India v. Union of India and others

Click here to read the order

Appearances

For Badminton Association of India : Mr. Apurv Kurup, Senior Advocate, along with Mr. Rajat Nair, Mr. Dhruv Pandey and Mr. Gurjas Narula, Advocates.

For Union of India : Mr. Tushar Mehta, Solicitor General of India, assisted by Mr. Chetan Sharma, Additional Solicitor General, Mr. Avshreya Pratap Singh Rudy, Mr. Ashish K. Dixit, Mr. Amit Gupta, Ms. Usha Jamnal, Mr. Ankit Khatri, Ms. Nyasa Sharma, Mr. R.V. Prabhat, Mr. Yash Wardhan Sharma, Mr. Shubham Sharma and Mr. Naman, Advocates. Ms. Shiva Laxmi and Mr. Kamaldeep.