Manmohan Malhotra (born 17 December 1962) is an Indian judge. He is a

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Supreme Court of India The Supreme Court of India is the supreme judiciary of India, judicial authority and the supreme court, highest court of the Republic of India. It is the final Appellate court, court of appeal for all civil and criminal cases in India. It also ...

. He is a former Chief Justice of

Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi ( Hindustani: दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय; ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') is the high court in Delhi, India. It was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966. ...

. He has also served as a

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

of Delhi High Court from 2008 to 2024.

Early life and education

He is the son of

Jagmohan Jagmohan Malhotra (25 September 1927 – 3 May 2021), known by the mononym Jagmohan, was an Indian civil servant and politician. After working with the Indian National Congress, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 1995. He served as Lieute ...

, who was

governor of Jammu and Kashmir The governor of Jammu and Kashmir was the head of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. When India became independent, Hari Singh was the Maharaja of the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir. Technically he remained so until 17 November 195 ...

and an MP and

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

in Delhi. He did undergraduate studies in

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

and got his law degree from Campus Law Centre.

Legal matters

He has overseen high profile legal matters as a judge including those involving the

Dabhol Power Company The Dabhol Power Company (now called RGPPL - Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private Limited) was a company based in Maharashtra, India, formed in 1992 to manage and operate the controversial Dabhol Power Plant. The Dabhol plant was built through the ...

, the Jewels of the Nizams of Hyderabad, the Claridge's hotel, encroachment disputes at

Fatehpur Sikri Fatehpur Sikri () is a town in the Agra District of Uttar Pradesh, India. Situated from the district headquarters of Agra, Fatehpur Sikri itself was founded as the capital of the Mughal Empire in 1571 by Mughal emperors, Emperor Akbar, servin ...

, and legal matters relating to the Modi family. Manmohan previously represented Ambuja Cements a case involving sales tax disputes as an attorney in 2000. Manmohan, alongside Justice Tushar Rao Gedela, was part of a bench that dismissed an appeal on 3 July 2024, which sought the debarment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

. The petitioner, Captain Deepak Kumar, who had been the pilot of the Air India flight in question, alleged that Modi was involved in a plot to cause a fatal air crash and accused him of anti-national activities. The court, however, raised concerns about the petitioner's mental health. Consequently, the court directed local authorities to monitor the petitioner under the provisions of the

Mental Health Act Mental Health Act is a stock short title used for legislation relating to mental health law. Canada *The Mental Health Act (Ontario) India *The Mental Health Care Act, 2017 Ireland *The Mental Health Act 2001 New Zealand *The Mental health ( ...

. On 14 October 2024, the Delhi High Court bench, comprising Manmohan and Gedela, criticised a Wikipedia page dedicated to the defamation lawsuit filed by

Asian News International Asian News International (ANI) is an Indian news agency that offers syndicated multimedia news feeds to news bureaus in India. The company was established by Prem Prakash in 1971 and, under the name TVNF, it soon became the first agency in Ind ...

(ANI) against the

Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (WMF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, and registered there as foundation (United States law), a charitable foundation. It is the host of Wikipedia, th ...

(WMF). The page, titled ''Asian News International vs. Wikimedia Foundation'', claimed that the court had threatened to block Wikipedia in India if certain editor identities were not disclosed, which the court found objectionable. The court warned that if the page was not removed, it might not hear Wikipedia's appeal. ANI contends that the page falsely characterised it as a state-sponsored propaganda outlet for the ruling

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP) under

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

. However, the contested content was supported by multiple reliable and reputed sources.

References

External links

*{{official site, https://newdelhi.dcourts.gov.in/Judges/honble-acting-chief-justice-sh-manmohan/ 1962 births Living people Chief justices of the Delhi High Court 21st-century Indian judges Delhi University alumni Justices of the Supreme Court of India