The Delhi High Court on Thursday registered as a suit a plea filed by BJP MP Raghav Chadha alleging misuse of his personality and image rights through defamatory social media content portraying him as having “sold himself for money” for political reasons.

Justice Subramonium Prasad, however, remarked that “Its a political decision. Your political decision is being criticised.the line between political criticism and defamation is quite thin”

Counsel for Chadha argued that the impugned posts went beyond fair political criticism and falsely projected that he had “traded for money,” causing reputational harm. It was contended that the content was “profane” and defamatory in nature.

The Court, however, orally observed that political criticism occupies a different space and indicated that it may appoint an amicus curiae to assist on the broader legal questions concerning the intersection of personality rights, defamation and political speech. Counsel for Raghav Chadha, however, pressed for interim relief, following which the Court did not appoint an amicus at this stage and instead directed that the plaint be registered as a suit.

Appearing for Meta Platforms, counsel submitted that several screenshots relied upon by the plaintiff were merely news reports or otherwise benign content unrelated to Chadha. It was further argued that precedents on personality and publicity rights largely concern commercial exploitation of celebrity identity and may not directly apply in the context of political criticism.

The Court considered precedents on personality rights and observed that a distinction may exist between commercial exploitation of an individual’s persona and criticism arising from political decisions. After hearing arguments on interim relief, the plaint was registered as suit and the matter was listed for further hearing on August 3, 2026.