Delhi HC urges Sanju Verma to withdraw ‘blot on uniform’ remark

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said that BJP spokesperson Sanju Verma cannot call ex-IPS officer Yashovardhan Jha Azad a “blot on the uniform” and urged her to withdraw the remark made on social media. Justice Amit Bansal said that while Verma can criticise Azad for his views, she cannot cast aspersions on his career and public life. The Court asked Verma’s counsel, Raghav Awasthi, to persuade her to remove the comment and posted the case to January 27.

“You cannot put aspersion on somebody’s career and public life. There is no basis to say that... According to me, you should advise your client to remove that part. I will deal with all the objections. 

Are you willing to talk to your client about this part or not? You take instructions. There is no problem in a TV debate, you said he is so and so’s brother, but raising aspersions on someone while he was an officer is wrong,” the Court remarked. The Court issued notice to Verma on Azad’s defamation case and asked Awasthi to speak to her client. Azad is a former Special Director in India’s Intelligence Bureau and ex-Central Information Commissioner.

The dispute between him and Verma started in a TV debate in India Today in June 2025. The debate was Kolkata rape case.

Sanju Verma said that Azad had failed to name West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in his comments on the rape and alluded that it was because he is the brother of Kirti Azad, TMC MP. She later posted the debate video on Twitter (X), terming Azad as: “Absolutely...what a blot this man must have been on the uniform.”

Senior Advocate Vikas Singh appeared for Azad and stated that Azad talked about the rape in Kolkata, but Verma started asking him why he was not disclosing that he was Kirti Azad’s brother and why he failed to name Mamata Banerjee.