Delhi HC Quashes Defamation Case Against Arnab Goswami Over Remarks on Lawyer Accused of Attacking Kanhaiya Kumar

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, quashed a criminal defamation complaint filed against journalist Arnab Goswami by lawyer Vikram Singh Chauhan over allegedly defamatory remarks made on a news channel in 2016.

Justice Neena Bansal Krishna, while pronouncing the verdict, set aside both the criminal defamation complaint and the summons issued against Goswami and two former officials of the TV channel, Shrijeet Ramakant Mishra and Samir Jain.

“Complaint quashed. Summoning order set aside,” the Court said.

A copy of the detailed order is currently awaited.

The verdict came on three separate petitions challenging the trial court order by which Goswami had been summoned in the defamation case filed by Chauhan.

The case stemmed from a criminal defamation complaint in which Chauhan alleged that Goswami made derogatory remarks about him during the broadcast of The NewsHour on Times Now on February 19, 2016.

During the programme, Goswami allegedly referred to Chauhan as a “goon” while discussing the attack on Kanhaiya Kumar inside the Patiala House Court complex, which occurred after the 2016 Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) incident where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised. Notably, when Kanhaiya Kumar was brought to the court for his remand hearing, a mob said to include several lawyers allegedly assaulted him and journalists present at the court premises. Video footage of the incident purportedly showed Chauhan among those involved in the violence.

In his complaint, Chauhan claimed that Goswami’s comments were baseless, defamatory, and intended to damage his reputation and sabotage his career out of malice.

Case Title: Arnab Goswami v. State & Ors and other connected matters

Bench: Justice Neena Bansal Krishna,

Judgement Date: 4 November 2025

Inputs: PTI