The Delhi High Court on Thursday (September 24, 2026) asked journalist Omar Rashid and a woman lawyer, against whom he has filed a defamation suit, to explore the possibility of amicably settling their issues.

Mr. Rashid has filed the defamation suit against two women lawyers, who made social media posts against him alleging sexual harassment and have been arrayed as defendant no. 1 and defendant no. 2 in the lawsuit.

Justice Manoj Jain asked the counsel for the journalist and the defendant no. 1 to get instructions if it was possible for the parties to find an amicable solution and noted that they both were earlier in a relationship.

The court also issued notice to the two women and social media intermediaries on an interim application of Mr. Rashid seeking an injunction from posting any defamatory content against him and also to take down the existing social media posts against him.

“There are certain things which have gone beyond the permissible limit. But we are not making any observation because we still don’t have your stand in writing. But then there are certain serious imputations which, if you fail to justify, then you are inviting some trouble for yourself also. We understand a relationship can turn sour, but that does not mean that the person should be indulging in such type of assertions unless it is duly corroborated. We don’t know how you will corroborate it,” the judge orally remarked.

The court listed the matter for further hearing on October 7.

During the hearing, the counsel for defendant no. 1 urged the court to restrain the media from reporting this case.

To this, the court said it would consider the prayer on the next date and granted time to defendant no. 1 to file her reply to the main suit and the application.

The issue relates to social media posts by two women accusing the journalist of grave offences, including sexual violence and “force feeding beef”.

Following the allegations, a case was initiated at the National Human Rights Commission against the journalist. However, it was closed after the police concluded there were no grounds to proceed with the investigation.