Why did the court issue new warrant against Dhruv Rathee? 

Judicial Magistrate First Class Rahul Jain issued the fresh bailable warrant on Saturday after being informed that a house on whose door a summons was to be served last week was locked.

Noting that the case was listed before him on October 12, Bar and Bench reported that the court had passed an order for fresh summons to be served at the respondent’s home in Gurugram, Haryana. This came after the complainant applied for an earlier hearing date. The court will next hear the case on October 31.

What is the 2018 defamation case about?

The complainant Vikas Sanskrityayan moved the court against Dhruv Rathee for uploading the video titled BJP IT Cell Part II on his YouTube channel. According to the complaint, the video contains defamatory statements and false allegations against him.

These are allegations made by the complainant and are not to be considered as facts found by the court.

The case was first registered against the respondent in 2019 when he was summoned to appear before the court, according to PTI. The latest development in the case is the fresh bailable warrant issued by the court.

Why did the complainant request an earlier hearing?

Earlier this week, the complainant moved the court seeking to prepone the matter, which was scheduled to be heard on November 20. He applied for an earlier date citing that the respondent was present in the country after a long time due to the ongoing protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Advocate Samaksh Sharma appearing for the complainant informed the court that Dhruv Rathee, who usually resides abroad, had arrived in Delhi to participate in the protests organized by the Cockroach Janta Party. After the application was received by the court, it decided to advance the hearing date.

Next hearing in defamation case set for October 31

The court’s latest order keeps the defamation case alive after a span of a decade with new proceedings likely to take place later this month. The warrant has been issued after the court received information about the failure to serve summons. A detailed order from the court on the case is yet to come.

The next hearing on October 31 will determine the further course of action in the case.