BJP's Gaurav Bhatia Files ₹2-Crore Defamation Case in Delhi High Court Against CJP Spokesperson Saurav Das

BJP leader and senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia has filed a Rs 2-crore defamation suit in the Delhi High Court against Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) spokesperson Saurav Das and co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka over a social media post that attributed a statement about Swatantra Bhardwaj to him. Bhatia said the matter is scheduled to come up before the high court on Wednesday.

The legal action follows a social media row that began on September 5, when Das shared an image on X claiming that Bhatia had described Bhardwaj as a “dimagi naxal” and said that the BJP had nothing to do with him. The post further attributed to Bhatia a statement that Bhardwaj had “casteist poison” in him. Bhatia denied making the remarks and described the graphic as fake.

Bhatia subsequently gave Das 24 hours to delete the post and issue an unconditional apology. Das deleted the post but did not apologise. He later said the graphic was AI-generated, while challenging BJP leaders to repeat the substance of the statement themselves.

Bhatia, in an X post on Tuesday, said: “When allegations cross the limit, the law draws the line,” while announcing the Rs 2-crore defamation case. He said there would be “no social media trial” or “war of statements”, adding that the matter would be decided on the basis of facts, evidence and law in court.

The dispute comes against the backdrop of a separate controversy involving Bhardwaj and the CJP. The organisation had recently demanded Bhardwaj’s arrest in connection with an alleged assault on Sanjay Kumar, father of CJP supporter Nishu Aazad, during the students' protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. The issue escalated after a video circulated in which Bhardwaj allegedly spoke about assaulting Kumar.

The CJP had staged a protest outside the Parliament Street police station seeking stronger action against Bhardwaj. According to reports, police subsequently arrested him after registering a case. Sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were also added to the FIR.

It was in the middle of this controversy that Das circulated the post attributing the “dimagi naxal” remarks to Bhatia. After Bhatia called it fabricated, Das acknowledged that the graphic was AI-generated but questioned why BJP leaders were not themselves making such a statement about Bhardwaj.

Bhatia, however, maintained that the issue was the publication of a statement falsely attributed to him. He said after the post was deleted that it had taken only 83 minutes to remove it, but that an unconditional apology was still pending. He had warned that failure to apologise could lead to an FIR.