Children ostracised, not invited by their friends due to Sitharaman’s statements: Somnath Bharti’s wife to court in defamation case
Somnath Bharti's wife, Lipika Mitra, has alleged that Sitharaman made “defamatory, false, and malicious” statements about her husband, which were widely aired on TV and YouTube news platforms.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Somnath Bharti’s wife, Lipika Mitra, said in a Delhi court last week that her children faced “humiliation”, were “ostracised”, and faced “physical abuse” during the pre-summoning evidence in a defamation case lodged by her against Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Mitra has alleged that Sitharaman made “defamatory, false, and malicious” statements about her husband, which were widely aired on TV and YouTube news platforms, with the alleged objective of “tarnishing his reputation and damaging his electoral prospects” during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The case pertains to a press conference which 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.
“In 2024, when Mrs Sitharaman decided to fabricate lies in the press conference, they (her children) were suddenly exposed to an abundance of disturbing lies about their parents, which affected them mentally and psychologically… My children were subjected to humiliation and hurt by their classmates. They are even ostracised by their classmates and till now are being regularly harassed on these accounts,” Mitra said in the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Paras Dalal on January 29.
“My son faced physical abuse when he tried to counter some of the false allegations by his friends. He was kicked in his abdomen and also in his private parts. My daughter…is also going through similar experiences…for such reasons only, she never gets invited to any social events like birthday parties etc…,” she added.
Mitra said, as per ACJM Dalal’s court order dated January 29, that when the marital discord between her and Bharti happened in 2015, her children were aged two and four years old and were unaware of it.
“My husband and I, as well as all the party workers, were faced with humiliating/ traumatic questions by the public as well as the media due to the lies spoken by Mrs Sitharaman. It was traumatic for the entire family, the volunteers who worked selflessly for the greater good and the citizens of his constituency,” she said during the evidence.
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Bharti, a lawyer, represented the Malviya Nagar constituency in the Delhi Assembly from 2013 till 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.
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Education: Nirbhay is an economics graduate from Delhi University.
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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.
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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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