New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (January 20) stayed proceedings in a defamation case in a Jharkhand trial court against Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for his alleged remarks against Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
A bench comprising Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta passed the interim order staying the proceedings before a trial court on a plea filed by the Congress Member Of Parliament (MP) challenging a Jharkhand High Court order refusing to quash the defamation case filed against him by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker Navin Jha.
Apex Court sought response of Jharkhand govt, Jha on Gandhi’s appeal
The bench issued notice to the Jharkhand government and Jha seeking their response on Gandhi’s appeal.
Jha had filed the case against the Congress MP in 2019 for his alleged statement made in 2018 calling the BJP leadership liars and drunk with power and referring Shah, the then BJP president, a “murder accused”.
What did the defamation complaint allege?
Jha in his complaint alleged that the Congress leader said that “The people of this country will accept a lying Bhartiya Janata Party leadership drunk with power because they know that, what the Bhartiya Janata Party is designed for”. Further he went on to say, “They will, accept a man accused of murder as the President of Bhartiya Janata Party but the people will never accept the same in the Congress Party.”
What did the High Court say?
The High Court, while refusing to quash proceedings, said that the statement made by Gandhi has imputed the BJP leadership to be liars who are drunk with power and that the workers of BJP will accept a person accused of murder as the president of BJP 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 (BJP) 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,” Justice Nath said.
