Actress Richa Chadha has come under judicial scrutiny after the Delhi High Court criticized her for raising unverified allegations against a man accused of sexual misconduct during a flight from Delhi to Mumbai. The court found that her re-posting of the claims with the comment “make her famous” contributed to public embarrassment and digital vigilantism.
Delhi High Court pulls up Richa Chadha for promoting unverified allegations in flight incident controversy
The case relates to an incident on March 11, when a journalist was accused of inappropriate physical conduct by a co-passenger during a flight. Soon after landing, the journalist shared the allegation on social media platform X, identified the man and posted his photo along with a professional description. The allegations quickly gained popularity online and were picked up by several media platforms.
Among those who reposted the allegation was Chadha, whose comment “Make him famous” later became part of the proceedings of a defamation suit filed by the accused professional, who denied the allegations and said he remained seated during the entire journey and fell asleep shortly before landing.
Hearing the case on March 20, Justice Vikas Mahajan said Chadha’s endorsement of the allegation went beyond the scope of free expression. The court said the promotion of her claim with “provocative” text had acted as a “catalyst for public embarrassment and digital vigilantism”.
The court also emphasized the responsibilities associated with public influence. “A public figure has a legal and moral responsibility to verify the veracity of facts before taking advantage of his platform to raise serious allegations,” the judge said.
In another critical comment, the court said, “The court is of the prima facie view that the endorsement of unverified allegations has caused immediate, rapid and incalculable harm to the plaintiff’s reputation.”
During the hearing, the court said that Chadha had already removed the post. It is also recorded that she hopes that she will not escalate this issue in future.
The court also expressed concern over the order in which the allegations were made public. It criticized the complaining journalist for sharing the allegation online before filing a formal FIR, stating that although he has the right to file a complaint, circulating the allegation along with the identity and photograph of the accused before investigation is a “serious violation of the plaintiff’s fundamental right to live with dignity and a fair trial.”
The order also addressed the role of several digital media platforms, including NDTV and ABP News, saying the reports repeated the allegations without independent verification and risked adversely impacting the investigation process. The court said that such reporting violates the principle of presumption of innocence until proven guilty and may amount to a parallel trial in the public domain.
Following these observations, the court directed removal of the defamatory material and restrained the defendants from publishing similar allegations till the next hearing of the case.
