New Delhi: A sessions court on Tuesday (June 9) reiterated its stay on a magistrate’s order that had asked for an FIR to be registered against commentator Abhijit Iyer Mitra on a complaint filed by the editorial director of digital news site Newslaundry, Manisha Pande.LiveLaw reports that Additional Sessions Judge Purushottam Pathak of the Saket District Courts passed the order while hearing Mitra’s petition challenging the magistrate’s direction. The court said the magistrate’s order would remain stayed until the revision petition was decided.In effect, Tuesday’s order means that the magistrate’s order directing an FIR is still under stay; therefore, no FIR will be registered against Iyer Mitra. The revision petition remains pending, and the Sessions Court has not yet finally decided whether the magistrate was right or wrong to order the FIR.The case stems from social media posts made by Mitra that Pande allegedly contained abusive and sexually-coloured remarks directed at her and other women employees of Newslaundry. Mitra later removed some posts, after criticism.In the order, the sessions court noted that the alleged derogatory words were in the form of “shayari” and that no individual was specifically named in it. The court said a detailed interpretation of the words and sentences used could only be undertaken after hearing both sides on the merits of the revision petition.Let this “shayari” be quoted back to the esteemed judges pic.twitter.com/JSpElbXG5z— Suma (@sumatweet) June 10, 2026The judge also observed that “no prejudice would be caused to the complainant” if the magistrate’s order was stayed until the revision petition had been decided, LiveLaw reported. Earlier, the Delhi High Court had set aside the sessions court’s stay order, holding that it was not reasoned. It directed the sessions court to reconsider the matter.The magistrate’s court had ruled in favour of Pande and directed the police to register an FIR against Mitra. The magistrate had held that the posts amounted to “sexually-coloured remarks” that intended to “insult the modesty” of the complainant, who was named in one of his posts.The latest sessions court order also said that the action taken report filed by the police in the case was “inconclusive on certain aspects”, and that it did not help ascertain the motive behind the posts, which could be decided after both parties had placed their responses on the record.Separately, Pande and other women employees of Newslaundry have filed a civil defamation suit against Mitra before the Delhi High Court. They have sought a public apology and Rs 2 crore in damages, alleging that his posts falsely and maliciously described them using derogatory terms. That suit is pending.