A Delhi court on Wednesday declined to take cognizance of a defamation case moved against Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman by AAP leader Somnath Bharti’s wife Lipika Mitra.
In the defamation suit, Mitra has alleged that Sitharaman made “defamatory, false, and malicious” statements about her husband, which were aired widely on news platforms on TV and YouTube, with the alleged objective of “tarnishing his reputation and damaging his electoral prospects” during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Hearing the matter, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Paras Dalal of Rouse Avenue Court said, “From the entire material on record, this court is reminded of a rather unusual word, which can describe the present complaint as well as the entire proceedings. The word is ‘floccinaucinihilipilification’, which implies ‘something valueless or worthless’. The present complaint is nothing but the word stated above, wherein a valueless or worthless material has been stretched too long.”
“…this court fails to find that the necessary ingredients of criminal defamation are prima facie not made out. The press conference and averments made by the respondents is nothing more than political discourse amongst rival and competing parties,” it added.
The case pertains to a press conference that took place on May 17, 2024, in which Sitharaman allegedly said that when Mitra was pregnant, Bharti had hit her on the stomach and had a dog attack her.
“These are the only instance that proposed accused named complainant’s husband in her press conference. The complainant then in her testimony… has not denied these statements to be false. Complainant never denied that she had (complained) alleging that her husband ‘attacked her during pregnancy with her dog’,” the court said.
“The complainant has alleged that the defamation was… when proposed accused stated about complainant’s case/allegations against her husband Somnath Bharti, without clarifying that both complainant and her husband are now residing peacefully and amicably. The complainant has not denied that the proposed accused was merely reiterating complainant’s old allegations against her husband,” it added.
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Bharti, a lawyer by profession, had represented the Malviya Nagar Assembly constituency from 2013 until 2025.
Nirbhay Thakur is a Senior Correspondent with The Indian Express who primarily covers district courts in Delhi and has reported on the trials of many high-profile cases since 2023.
Professional Background
Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
Beats: His reporting spans the trial courts, and he occasionally interviews ambassadors and has a keen interest in doing data stories.
Specializations: He has a specific interest in data stories related to courts.
Core Strength: Nirbhay is known for tracking long-running legal sagas and providing meticulous updates on high-profile criminal trials.
Recent notable articles
In 2025, he has written long form articles and two investigations. Along with breaking many court stories, he has also done various exclusive stories.
1) A long form on Surender Koli, accused in the Nithari serial killings of 2006. He was acquitted after spending 2 decades in jail. was a branded man. Deemed the “cannibal" who allegedly lured children to his employer’s house in Noida, murdered them, and “ate their flesh” – his actions cited were cited as evidence of human depravity at its worst. However, the SC acquitted him finding various lapses in the investigation. The Indian Express spoke to his lawyers and traced the 2 decades journey.
2) For decades, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been at the forefront of the Government’s national rankings, placed at No. 2 over the past two years alone. It has also been the crucible of campus activism, its protests often spilling into national debates, its student leaders going on to become the faces and voices of political parties of all hues and thoughts. The Indian Express looked at all court cases spanning over two decades and did an investigation.
3) Investigation on the 700 Delhi riots cases. The Indian Express found that in 17 of 93 acquittals (which amounted to 85% of the decided cases) in Delhi riots cases, courts red-flag ‘fabricated’ evidence and pulled up the police.
Signature Style
Nirbhay’s writing is characterized by its procedural depth. He excels at summarizing 400-page chargesheets and complex court orders into digestible news for the general public.
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