Supreme Court Stays Proceedings Against Rahul Gandhi In Criminal Defamation Case Over Remarks Against BJP & Amit Shah

The Supreme Court on Monday (January 20) stayed the trial court proceedings in the criminal defamation case filed against Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for allegedly saying that Bharatiya Janata Party 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.

Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Rahul Gandhi, submitted that there are several judgments which hold that only the aggrieved person can file a criminal defamation complaint. He argued that the complaint cannot be filed by a proxy third party.

Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani appeared for the complainant.

BJP Leader Navin Jha filed the complaint case against Rahul Gandhi, alleging that in the AICC Plenary Sessions dated 18.03.2018, Gandhi made a speech against BJP and labelled Shah (the then BJP national president) as a murder-accused.

Magistrate Court at Ranchi dismissed Jha's complaint, aggrieved by which, he filed a Criminal Revision Petition before the Judicial Commissioner, Ranchi. The Judicial Commissioner, Ranchi set aside the order dismissing the complaint and remanded the matter back to the Magistrate with a direction to re-appreciate the evidence.

The Magistrate, on the basis of the direction given in the Criminal Revision, passed a fresh order on 28.11.2018 and came to a finding that a prima facie case was made out against Gandhi under Section 500 IPC and issued process for his appearance.

Gandhi challenged the Judicial Commissioner's order and the subsequent order of the Magistrate, contending that Jha had no locus standi to file the case, and that the provision under section 199 CrPC had not been complied with.

The High Court held, “Opposite party no. 2 being a party worker of Bhartiya Janata Party in my view, has locus standi to file the aforesaid complaint case under Sections 499/500 of the Indian Penal Code.”

“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,” it added.

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.

Case Title: RAHUL GANDHI Versus THE STATE OF JHARKHAND AND ANR., Diary No. 36772-2024

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