The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the proceedings against Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case pending against him in a Jharkhand court over his alleged “murder” remark against Union Home Minister Amit Shah in 2018.
The court issued a notice to the state government and the complainant, Navin Jha, asking for their responses on Gandhi’s petition challenging a February 2024 order of the Jharkhand high court refusing to quash the summons issued to him by the trial court.
Senior Counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing on behalf of the Congress MP, argued that the case was filed by a third party, which is legally non-permissible under the offence of defamation.
“If you are not the person aggrieved, how can you have a proxy filing of complaint?” Bar and Bench quoted Singhvi asking during the hearing.
The defamation case
During one of his public speeches in Chaibasa before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Gandhi had allegedly referred to Shah as a “murderer”. Naveen Jha, a BJP worker, filed a case against Gandhi in 2019 for his alleged remarks against Shah.
A Judicial Commissioner in Ranchi overturned a magistrate court’s dismissal of Jha’s complaint and directed the magistrate to review the plea based on “evidence on record” and pass fresh orders to proceed further in the case.
In November 2018, the magistrate court concluded that sufficient grounds existed against the Congress leader to proceed under Section 500 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Fresh summons were also issued for Gandhi’s appearance.
The Congress leader then moved the Jharkhand high court, challenging the order to appear. The single bench judge dismissed Gandhi’s plea, noting that his remarks were “prima facie defamatory in nature.”
Justice Ambuj Nath noted that Gandhi’s remarks had suggested that the BJP leaders are “liars” who are “drunk with power” and will accept a leader accused of murder as their party president. “This imputation is prima facie defamatory in nature,” the high court said, dismissing Gandhi’s plea.
