MP High Court Stays Bailable Warrants Issued By MP/MLA Court Against Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan & State's BJP President

In a relief to the state's ruling party which is confronted by the upcoming General Elections, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has stayed a special court's order issuing bailable warrants against Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP State President Vishnu Datt Sharma for not furnishing personal undertakings in a criminal defamation case.

The single judge bench of Justice Sanjay Dwivedi reasoned that both the petitioners are contesting Lok Sabha elections and the constituencies from where they are contesting the elections lie far away from the Jabalpur Special Court for MPs/MLAs.

In this scenario, the court stated that it would have been right for the special court to exempt the petitioners from furnishing the undertakings since the counsel appearing for them intimated his helplessness in the matter.

“….as an interim measure, the impugned orders dated 22.03.2024 (Annexure A/3) and 02.04.2024 (Annexure A/5) are directed to be stayed and it is also directed that warrants as directed to be issued against the petitioners shall not be issued till the next date of hearing”, the single judge bench has listed the matter with a connected matter, MCRC No. 12558/2024, on 23^rd April.

Since consideration of interim relief was pending, there was no requirement for the special court to issue bailable warrants, the court opined.

The order dated 22.03.2024 by Special Judicial Magistrate (MP/MLA Court), Jabalpur asked the petitioners to furnish personal undertakings on 02.04.2024 to consider granting permanent exception from personal appearance in the case. On 02.04.2024, however, the undertakings were not submitted by the politicians, owing to the tie constraints in fulfilling the requirements of submitting their candidature.

Stating the above, the special court rejected the applications filed under Section 205 r/w Section 317 of Cr.P.C and preponed the date of personal appearance from 07.06.2024 to 07.05.2024. Bailable warrants were also issued to ensure their presence in the court on 07.05.2024.

While dismissing the applications for exemption from personal appearance, the special court also made a remark that the status or position of the petitioners does not make them any different in the eyes of the law.

Challenging the aforesaid special court orders, the counsel for the petitioners argued that the senior leaders, who are contesting the Lok Sabha Elections, are swamped in election work including the submission of nomination forms, which made it impossible to furnish personal undertakings.

The counsel also impressed upon the court that the criminal defamation case filed by Senior Advocate Vivek Tankha, who happens to be the Rajya Sabha member of Congress, is politically motivated, foreseeing the Lok Sabha elections.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan is contesting the elections scheduled on 07.05.2024 from Vidisha Constituency whereas Vishnu Datt Sharma will contest the polls from Khajuraho Constituency.

After hearing both sides and taking into account the fact that the High Court is already seized of the matter, the single judge bench decided to stay the orders dated 22.03.2024 and 02.04.2024 passed by the special court as an interim measure. The court also pointed out that the special court has earlier exempted the petitioners from personal appearances on specific dates considering the situation.

“The trial court had also extended the date of personal appearance of the petitioners upto 07.06.2024 and hence under the circumstances the provision of sub-section (2) of Section 205 of Cr.P.C. can be avoided, which is based upon the discretion of the court”, Justice Dwivedi further noted in the order.

Senior Advocate R.N. Singh along with Advocate Akshat Arjaria appeared for the petitioners. Advocate Shivendra Pandey represented the respondent/complainant,

Case Title: Shivraj Singh Chouhan & Ors. v. Vivek Krishna Tankha

Case No: WP No. 10484 of 2022

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