Big relief for Rahul Gandhi as Supreme Court stays defamation case against him for remarks on Amit Shah, BJP

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the trial court proceedings in the criminal defamation case filed against Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for allegedly saying that BJP members were "liars" and "drunk with power" and for calling Union Home Minister Amit Shah a "murder-accused".

A bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the interim order while issuing notice on Rahul Gandhi's Special Leave Petition challenging the Jharkhand High Court judgment which dismissed his plea to quash the defamation case filed against him by BJP worker Navin Jha.

BJP Leader Navin Jha filed the complaint case against Rahul Gandhi, alleging that in the AICC Plenary Sessions dated March 18, 2018, Gandhi made a speech against BJP and labelled Shah (the then BJP national president) as a murder-accused.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Rahul Gandhi, said that there were several judgements which showed that only the aggrieved person can file a criminal defamation complaint and the complaint cannot be filed by a proxy party.

Also read: RG Kar doctor rape-murder case: Main accused Sanjoy Roy found GUILTY, sentence hearing on Monday

The High Court said, “It appears that prima facie case under sections 499/500 of the Indian Penal Code is made out against the petitioner Mr. Rahul Gandhi for imputing the Bhartiya Janata Party leadership as liars and drunk with power."

With respect to the allegations levelled against Gandhi, the High Court observed,

“The speech made by Mr. Rahul Gandhi has imputed the Bhartiya Janata Party leadership to be liars who are drunk with power and that the Bhartiya Janata Party workers will accept a person accused of murder as the president of Bhartiya Janata Party but people will never accept the same in the congress party. Prima facie this statement points out that Mr. Rahul Gandhi has imputed that the Bhartiya Janata Party leadership was drunk with power and was composed of liars. It further means that the party workers of Bhartiya Janata Party will accept such person/persons as their leader. This imputation is prima facie defamatory in nature.”

Expounding on Section 398 CrPC, the High Court noted that on examining any record under Section 397 CrPC or otherwise, the High Court or Sessions Judge, may direct any subordinate magistrate to make further enquiry into the complaint which was dismissed under Section 203 CrPC.

The Court did not find any illegality in the impugned orders, finding the prima facie case to be true against Gandhi under Section 500 IPC. Accordingly, it dismissed the Criminal Miscellaneous Petition.