Rajat Sharma

Sharma was born 18 February 1957 in Sabzi Mandi, Delhi. He grew up with his 6 brothers and a sister. He did his schooling from Ramjas School. He did his higher studies from the Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and joined Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. Rajat Sharma is an Indian journalist and businessperson who is the chairman and Editor-in-chief of India TV, an Indian news outlet. Sharma is said to be very close to the ruling BJP and the late Arun Jaitley, a BJP politician and the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2014, India TV's former anchor Tanu Sharma filed FIR against two India TV executives alleging that she faced harassment in the workplace leading her to attempt suicide.In response, Sharma and Ritu Dhiman threatened to pursue legal action against her. In May 2023, Sharma filed a lawsuit against Ravindra Kumar Choudhary, leading the Delhi High Court to restrain Choudhary from using the names “Baap Ki Adalat” and “Jhandiya TV,” which were deemed deceptively similar to Sharma's show “Aap Ki Adalat.” The court ordered that Choudhary must cease using Sharma’s images and name across various platforms, highlighting the protection of intellectual property rights in media. In addition to his media work, Sharma has been involved in efforts to address the challenges posed by deepfake technology. He filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Delhi High Court, urging the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to identify and block platforms that facilitate deepfake creation, following his own experience with a malicious deepfake video. The court acknowledged the urgency of the issue, indicating that political parties have raised similar concerns. Sharma’s PIL also calls for appointing a government nodal officer to manage deepfake complaints and advocates for clear disclosures of AI-generated content by platforms. He highlights significant gaps in current legislation, particularly the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which he argues does not adequately address the challenges posed by deepfakes. An RTI request filed by the Indian express revealed that Sharma was not on the government's list of nominees but received the Padma Bhushan award at the recommendation of Arun Jaitley. He was President of Delhi Cricket Association. He, however resigned only one month into his job citing corruption and various "pulls and pressures". On 09 July 2024, he was unanimously elected as president for the News Broadcasters & Digital Association (NBDA) which is known as the largest organisation of news broadcasters and digital media in India. He replaces it's previous president, Avinash Pandey.