Delhi Police files FIR against Prashant Bhushan for allegedly sharing doctored video of Russian FM criticising India

A First Information Report was filed against Prashant Bhushan over allegedly sharing a morphed, doctored video of a Russian foreign minister criticising India.

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The Delhi Police on Tuesday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan for sharing a digitally manipulated video of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, which purportedly contained remarks hostile to India, officials said.

The FIR was lodged at the Special Cell police station after police, during cyber patrolling on November 3, came across a social media post by the handle @thequotesnews. The post claimed that a doctored video of Lavrov had been shared from Bhushan's X account.

“On 03.11.2026, during cyber patrolling, it came to notice that the social media handle @thequotesnews has claimed that a purported doctored video of the Russian Foreign Minister, hostile to India, was shared from Prashant Bhushan's handle @pbhushan1,” police said in a post on X.

“Through the said video, there is an allegation of disseminating misleading, defamatory, and inflammatory content to incite public disturbance and spread rumors. In this regard, a case under Section 336(4)/353(1)(c)/356/340(2) BNS and 66C IT Act has been registered as FIR No. 263/26 at PS Special Cell,” it added.

The FIR was registered under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), along with the Information Technology Act.

The purported video allegedly carried misleading and inflammatory content, with the potential to spread rumours, defame individuals and disturb public order, police said.

The FIR comes after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) debunked the digitally manipulated video falsely attributed to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The fabricated clip allegedly depicted Lavrov making critical remarks about India's internal affairs and its purchase of Russian oil.

Police are now probing the matter and examining the video, along with how it was circulated on social media.

MEA debunks fake post attributing remarks on Russia-Ukraine war to Jaishankar

The MEA Fact Check Unit on Tuesday debunked a viral social media post falsely attributed to EAM S Jaishankar, which claimed that he had expressed disappointment over the Russian minister’s “sarcastic” response to his appeal for peace between Russia and Ukraine.

The fact checking unit called the post “fake” and urged users to caution against malicious posts on social media platforms.

The purported video shows a fabricated clip of Jaishankar from when he attended the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta, US on October 30-31.

The statement suggests that he had appealed to both countries to understand that war brings only economic hardship and destruction.

“We called on both Russia and Ukraine to understand that war serves no one and only brings economic hardship and destruction. I am deeply disappointed by the Russian minister’s sarcastic and disrespectful reaction to my sincere appeal for peace,” read the caption of the misleading post.

However, in the original clip, Jaishankar said that India had discussed three aspects of the Ukraine conflict with Russia, Kyiv and European countries.

He added that the discussions covered protecting civilian shipping and seafarers from attacks, restoring grain exports from Russia and Ukraine, and the third aspect was related to energy, which he said was the “most complicated”.

“I had gone earlier to Moscow, and even today I discussed it with Mr Lavrov (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov), and then in between I had gone to Kyiv, and we are in touch with the Ukrainian side. We have also been coordinating this with the Americans because they have their own peace mediation initiative,” he said.

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