Institutional Integrity Under Fire: Delhi HC Hears Petition on London Badminton Row

(By Syed Ali Taher Abedi)

Delhi,19, June, 2026-The Delhi High Court has manifested its readiness to entertain a petition arising from the dissemination of scurrilous and unfounded assertions, which sought to impute that certain members of the judiciary had, in concert with a functionary of the Union Executive, partaken in a badminton tournament convened in the city of London.

The petition has been instituted at the instance of the Badminton Association of India, whose learned counsel, appearing before Justice Tejas Karia, prayed for an expeditious listing of the matter, citing the urgency occasioned by the continued circulation of the impugned material.

The Solicitor General of India, Mr. Tushar Mehta, having been apprised in advance of the institution of the public interest litigation, lent his support to the prayer for urgent hearing.

He observed before the Court that, notwithstanding the issuance of an authoritative fact-check, the offending falsehood persisted in circulation, to the detriment of the institutional dignity and reputation of the Court. He further submitted that the gravity of the matter warranted its listing on that very day.

Upon due consideration of these submissions, the Court was pleased to direct that the matter be listed forthwith, conditional upon the rectification of procedural defects by 2:30 PM.

It may be recalled that earlier in the present month, certain elements upon social media platforms and various YouTube channels had propagated the assertion that the Union Law Minister had, on the 7th day of June, participated alongside some seventy-five judicial officers in a badminton tournament held in London.

The Ministry of Law and Justice has since categorically repudiated this assertion as wholly false, affirming that the Law Minister was, at the material time, present within the territory of India.

The Ministry further clarified that the photographic material employed to lend credence to the falsehood was, in truth, drawn from a badminton tournament conducted in Delhi during the preceding year.

The petition preferred by the Badminton Association of India seeks, inter alia, the removal of the offending videos, online publications, and posts disseminated upon the platform X, by which the misinformation in question was propagated.

It further prays for directions to identify the progenitors of such content, for the institution of civil and criminal proceedings against the said persons, and for the permanent expunction of such material from digital platforms.

The Association has additionally sought the laying down of guidelines to ensure the prompt redressal of misinformation touching upon the judiciary.

Particular exception has been taken by the petitioner to a statement issued on the 11th of June by the All-India Lawyers Union, which characterised the event in question as an improper and objectionable display of collusion, and alleged that it constituted a deliberate exercise of influence by the Union Government over the judiciary.

The petition avers that such imputations were devoid of any evidentiary foundation and were calculated to erode public confidence in the judicial institution.

Adverting to the clarifications issued by the Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau and by the Ministry of Law and Justice, the petition asserts that the allegations concerning the participation of Union Ministers in the London event stand authoritatively discredited.

It is averred that the photographs relied upon were, in fact, taken at the All-India Judges’ Badminton Championship held at the Thyagaraj Stadium, New Delhi, in November of 2025, and that the Union Minister Mr. Arjun Ram Meghwal was, on the date in question, present at Bikaner, Rajasthan, and not in London.

The petitioner contends that the impugned publications transgress the bounds of legitimate criticism and constitute an attempt to scandalise the judiciary by casting unfounded aspersions of impropriety upon its members.

It is submitted that such misinformation bears a direct tendency to impair public confidence in the independence and integrity of the judicial institution, and to interfere with the due administration of justice.