Rahul Gandhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has got a big relief from the Supreme Court in the defamation case. The Supreme Court has stayed the proceedings of the trial court till further orders. The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta has also sought response from the Jharkhand government and the prosecutor on Rahul Gandhi’s petition seeking quashing of the case.
Complaint filed by a third party
During the hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday, senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Rahul Gandhi, highlighted that the complaint was filed by a third party and it is not acceptable to do so in a defamation case. Singhvi asked, if you are not an aggrieved person then how can you get a proxy to file a complaint?
Supreme Court sent notice to Jharkhand government and Naveen Jha
On the other hand, on Rahul Gandhi’s petition in the defamation case, the Supreme Court has sent a notice to the Jharkhand government and the complainant BJP worker Naveen Jha. The matter came to light when BJP leader Naveen Jha filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi, alleging that on March 18, 2018, Rahul Gandhi had given a speech criticizing the BJP, accusing Amit Shah of being involved in the murder. And called him a murderer. Jha’s complaint was initially rejected by the Ranchi Magistrate Court, after which he filed a review petition before the Judicial Commissioner in Ranchi.
On 15 September 2018, the Judicial Commissioner of Ranchi reversed the order dismissing the complaint and sent it back to the magistrate’s court. The Judicial Commissioner directed the Magistrate to re-examine the evidence on record and pass a fresh order determining the prima facie material to proceed with the case.
Rahul Gandhi knocked on the door of the High Court
The magistrate then passed a fresh order on 28 November 2018 and concluded that there was enough evidence to establish a prima facie case against Gandhi under section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). As a result, the magistrate issued summons to Rahul Gandhi to appear before him. Gandhi then moved the High Court challenging the September 15, 2018 order of the Ranchi Judicial Commissioner.
Single judge Justice Ambuj Nath said, Rahul Gandhi had said that BJP leaders are liars who are intoxicated with power and BJP workers will accept a person accused of murder as their president. The High Court said that these statements of Gandhi are prima facie objectionable under section 499 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Prima facie from Rahul Gandhi’s statement it seems that the BJP leadership is intoxicated with power and fraudulent people are involved in it.
Rahul Gandhi challenged the High Court’s decision
In the petition, Rahul Gandhi has challenged the decision of Jharkhand High Court dated 22 February 2024. The High Court refused to quash the defamation case. Actually, BJP worker Naveen Jha has filed a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi.
