Delhi HC Issues Summons In Journalist Omar Rashid Defamation Case Over Rape, Forced Beef-Eating Allegations

The Delhi High Court today issued summons in Journalist Omar Rashid's defamation suit against a woman lawyer who accused him of rape and forced beef-eating in a social media campaign last year, seeking damages and legal accountability for what he has called a "sinister campaign" against him.

Justice Sachin Dutta issued summons and also issued notice on Rashid's application seeking interim injunctive relief.

"I'll hear the injunction application after two weeks. I'll only say that the exemptions would be allowed. The IA 24662 would be allowed. Notice in the injunction application. In view of the urgency emphasised by learned counsel for the plaintiff, let reply if any be filed within two weeks, huh. List exactly after two weeks."

The matter is now listed on 24 September before Court and 8 October before Joint Registrar.

Background

The suit, titled Omar Rashid v. X & Ors., has been filed days after the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) closed, after over 300 days, its own inquiry into the same posts, finding no grounds for the Delhi Police to proceed against Rashid.

The controversy dates back to May 21 and 22, 2025, when anonymous social media posts accused Rashid, then with The Wire, of rape and forcing a woman to eat beef, wrapping the allegations in a communal and political narrative around Kashmir.

The NHRC took cognisance of the posts on a complaint by one Tanmay N., convenor of the Sahyadri Rights Forum, and directed the Delhi Police Commissioner to investigate. In November 2025, the Delhi High Court, hearing Rashid's plea for a time-bound decision, directed the NHRC to dispose of the complaint within six weeks, with Justice Sachin Datta noting it had already been pending for five months.

According to Rashid, the Action Taken Report submitted by the Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, disclosed that the posts originated from a 34-year-old practicing advocate & political activist.

He said the report found that this person, when approached by the enquiry officer, threatened the police officer and asked him to not probe the case, categorically refused to testify or cooperate with the probe, was not found living at the address visited by the police, and ultimately denied making any complaint against him.

Rashid has described the episode as causing him tremendous personal, professional and financial harm, saying his silence through the process was deliberate, out of regard for the law and to let official proceedings reach their conclusion.

He has said the posts were designed to dehumanize him and cast him as a communal monster, with references to "beef," "love jihad" and Kashmir deceitfully inserted to cause maximum damage. The campaign, he said, was launched in the sensitive aftermath of the massacre of innocent Hindus in Pahalgam, and his "Kashmiri Muslim" identity was invoked despite his being a resident of an entirely different part of the country.

Rashid has said the fallout included relentless death threats, communal abuse, and threats of sexual violence against him and his family, and that even my late mother, who passed away due to cancer in 2022, was not spared.

He has said his private details were compromised, leading to threatening calls and messages, including some from abroad, and that many individuals threatened to lynch him and tried unauthorized transactions from his bank account.