Nine women journalists working with digital news platform Newslaundry have approached the Delhi High Court, filing a defamation suit against Abhijit Iyer Mitra. The petition alleges that Mitra made sexually abusive and offensive posts targeting them on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).
The defamation plea demands ₹2 crore in compensation and a public apology from Mitra. The journalists claim that his posts were not just offensive but were aimed at attacking their dignity, reputation, and professional integrity. They have also sought the immediate removal of the defamatory content from Mitra’s social media handle.
Read Also:- Madras High Court Urges Government to Act Swiftly to Return Defrauded Depositors’ Money Under TNPID Act
The plaintiffs include Manisha Pande, Ishita Pradeep, Suhasini Biswas, Sumedha Mittal, Tista Roy Chowdhury, Tasneem Fatima, Priya Jain, Jayashree Arunachalam, and Priyali Dhingra. The media organisation Newslaundry itself is also a plaintiff in the case.
“While fair criticism of journalistic work is welcome, nobody deserves to be personally humiliated,”
— Plaintiffs in the suit
According to the suit, Iyer’s posts falsely described the journalists with terms like “prostitute” and labeled their workplace a “brothel”. He also allegedly called Newslaundry’s subscribers “prostitutes” in Hindi, ignoring the fact that the subscriber base includes professionals like doctors, lawyers, teachers, scientists, judges, engineers, and others.
The plea strongly condemns the use of such language and highlights that even sex workers have dignity, and using the term “prostitute” as an insult not only degrades women journalists but also reinforces harmful stereotypes and stigma against sex workers.
“No woman/person deserves to be dehumanised. No profession deserves to be weaponised as an insult. These remarks strip women—whether journalists or sex workers—of agency, identity, and respect,”
— Extract from the plea
The plaintiffs argue that such remarks cannot be justified under freedom of speech, satire, or journalistic criticism. They call the posts sexist slurs that aim to humiliate women professionals and create a hostile environment.
“They are sexist slurs aimed at humiliating women professionals in Plaintiff No. 10's organisation… and directly attack their dignity and right to work without fear or sexual harassment,”
— From the legal plaint
The case is scheduled to be heard by Justice Purushaindra Kumar Kaurav. The suit has been filed through Advocates Uddhav Khanna and Dhruva Vig.
Title: Manisha Pande and Ors v. Abhijit Iyer Mitra and Anr.
